Depression in South Korea

Depression in South Korea in 2015 according to the health insurance screening data of Health Insurance Review Agency (HIRA)

Depression in South Korea

Total number of patients treated

Total number of patients treated in 2015 alone is about 49 million and 80 thousand.

This is 96% of the South Korean population of nearly 51 million (2015 population census)

Source | Medical demographic information of HIRA

Depression in South Korea

Number of people treated for depression

Depression, so-called ‘flu of the mind’, is accompanied by symptoms such as extreme sadness, loss of motivation, and lethargy along with physical symptoms such as altered appetite, excessive headaches, and digestive issues, which in turn affects every aspect of human life.

The number of people who have been treated for depression (episodes of depression and recurrent depression) in 2015 alone turned out to be a total number of 601,152.

I didn’t realize it was depression at first.
I was restless at night and one day I weighed myself to find out I have lost 8~9kg in one to two months. My mind kept rushing but my body wouldn’t budge. I was told that when the body won’t follow what the eyes can see, it is all because of depression.

Depression patient in her 50s

Depression patient in her 50s

Depression in South Korea

Number of people treated for depression

About 1.22% of the total number of people are being treated in hospitals, which means 1 out of 100 people of South Korea are visiting a hospital for depression.

Depression in South Korea

Number of people treated for depression - by year

The number of people treated for depression is gradually increasing.

The total number of people who were treated for depression in 2011 was 534,854. That number has grown annually, except for the year 2014, and the number has increased roughly 12% in 2015 from that of year 2011.

Furthermore, the lifetime prevalence rate of depression has also slowly elevated.According to a government investigation that is conducted every 5 years to look at mental illness conditions, the rate of suffering from depression, at least once in the lifetime, has increased from 4.0% in 2001, 5.6% in 2006 to 6.7% in 2011.

Year Number of people treated for depression
2011 534,854
2012 591,276
2013 591,148
2014 588,155
2015 601,152

Depression in South Korea

Number of people treated for depression - by age and year

By looking at the annual difference of the number of people treated for depression by age, a trend of continual increase in age group of early 20’s and 55+ was shown.

In the case of 20 to 24 year olds treated for depression, the number has grown from 22,260 in 2011 to 27,642 in 2015, marking a roughly 24% increase. Among people of age 55 and over, the number has increased in especially those who are 75-79 years old to about 45% in 2015 compared to 2011, and in the age group of 80 and over to about 69% increase in 2015 compared to 2011, revealing a dramatic increase rate.

People in their early 20’s are very sensitive and can suffer from anxiety or depression when they don’t feel the sense of belonging, and if they are not in the environment that gives mental stability.

Sewon Lim,
the department of the medical science in mental health,
Kangbuk Samsung Hospital

The youth and elderly are affected the most from a weak social safety network. Elderly people even choose extreme options when their life becomes miserable from problems such as financial crisis.

JungHo Seok,
Master of Medicine in Yonsei University,
the department of the medical science in mental health, Kangnam Severance Hospital

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Depression in South Korea

Number of people treated for depression - by sex and age group

It is known that more women suffer from depression than men.

By examining the patients treated for depression by their sex and age, 67.7% was women, which was double the number of men.

Among various age groups of women, the number was the highest in the age between 55 to 60. We can only guess that this depression is caused by the mental emptiness and blues coming from reaching menopause and their grown up children becoming independent.

Melancholiac

2015 Medical big data sample of Health Insurance Review Agency was extracted and analyzed to utilize the data that are not open to the public.

Melancholiac

The number of people treated for depression

Depression is a common illness in today’s society but also known to be highly curable when it is treated in the beginning.

By analyzing the treatment history of 1,454,319 people who received the Health Insurance screening process, 66,282 (roughly 4.56%) patients turned out to have a record of being treated for depression.

Source | Medical big data of Health Insurance Review Agency

Melancholiac

Number of treatment

Looking at the number of treatment received for depression among 66,282 patients, who have an experience of getting treated for depression, it has shown that each patient has received an average of 6 treatments in the year 2015 alone.

There were nearly 42 patients who have received the treatment 100 or more times, and the most number of treatments received by a patient was 279.

Melancholiac

Number of days

When adding up the number of days spent on medical care for depression per patient, we can see that it is about 66 days. However, the number of patients who spent more than 100 days recuperating from depression also reached 13,593.

Melancholiac

The cost of compensation allowance

Examining the total cost of compensation allowance received for recuperation (Medical care benefits of a decree), about 960,406 won has been charged per person.

Total Compensation allowance includes medical services such as consultation, examination, treatment, and prescription of medicine, received by the member of the national health insurance and their dependents for their conditions such as illness, injury or delivery. The expense for these services is called the cost of compensation allowance.

The number of patients who charged more than 100,0000 won or more has reached 9,377, and the highest amount charged by a patient was 181,634,270 won.

Melancholiac

Patient’s share of the medical cost

Since the total cost of compensation allowance is what patient charges the Health Insurance Review Agency after s/he receives the treatment, the patient’s share of the medical cost for depression is far less than that.

Looking at how much money has been coming out of a patient’s pocket for the treatment, about 177,172 won per person was charged.

It is about 18% of nearly 960,000 wongiven to a patient for the total cost of compensation allowance.

On the other hand, there have been patients who had to pay more than 1,000,000 won on their own. 2,199 people were subjected to this matter, and the highest amount a patient had to pay out of the insurance plan was 14,942,330 won.

Melancholiac

Illness accompanied by depression

It is known that patients with depression commonly suffer from other illnesses as well.

The likelihood of patients hospitalized for physical illness to develop depression is 5-10%, and outpatients being 9-16% of it, which is higher than the ordinary people (6.7%).

Depression is a symptom shown when the stress level continues till the central nervous system can’t handle.Normally gastric acid secretion levels increase, causing gastritis when the cortisol hormone is stimulated by stress.

Sewon Lim,
the department of the medical science in mental health,
Kangbuk Samsung Hospital

Melancholiac

Illness accompanied by depression

According to the sample data showing other illnesses that patients with depression suffer from simultaneously, the most prevalent disease was gastritis with 23,606 people struggling from it, insomnia was the second on the list (14,376 people), and anxiety the third (12,997 people).

The rest that were on the top of the list were illnesses related to digestive issues such as gastroesophageal reflux, indigestibility, constipation, mental disorders such as dementia, anxiety, insomnia, and chronic illnesses such as high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes.

Rank Illness Patients
1 Gastritis 23,606
2 Insomnia 14,376
3 Anxiety Disorders 12,997
4 Hypertension 11,530
5 Gastro-Oesophageal Reflux Disease 10,550

Treatment for depression

What kind of treatments do patients with depression receive? 2015 big data sample of Health Insurance Review Agency was extracted and analyzed.

Treatment for depression

Prescription of antidepressant

The history of antidepressant (KIMS standard) prescription was closely examined from the sample data of the prescription record of patients with depression.

Antidepressants are medications used to relieve depression and also utilized to treat bipolar disorder, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, eating disorder, and other illnesses such as insomnia and chronic headaches.

When adding up the antidepressant prescription record per patient, it was 7 times a year for about 141 days on the pill.

There are patients who reject the prescription of antidepressants with the notion of it being addictive, but this is a misconception. It does not have addictive properties. Depression is highly exaggerated with societal bias and fear.

JungHo Seok,
the department of the medical science in mental health,
Kangnam Severance Hospital

By the research conducted from brain science, patients have realized that depression is not a disease coming from the lack of will, but an actual ‘disease of the brain’. Hence, patients seeking hospitals and drug treatments for depression are increasing. Many people that visit the hospital already broad range of knowledge that they have gathered from the internet nowadays.

JeeIn Kang,
the department of the medical science in mental health,
Yonsei University Severance Hospital

Treatment for depression

Prescription of antidepressants

Looking at the prescribed antidepressants (refer to KPIC classification of medicinal effect), Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) that only affects the neuroreceptor serotonin was prescribed most frequently. The next most frequent prescription came from tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs).

Regarding the individual component of antidepressants, amitriptyline (a type of TCAs), escitalopram (a type of SSRI), and trazodone, in that order, was frequently prescribed. Trazodone is a component commonly used to treat insomnia.

Treatment for depression

Psychotherapy for depression

Aside from the usage of antidepressants, psychotherapy is used to treat depression.

Examining the frequency of psychotherapy in the sample data, about 7.7 psychotherapy sessions a year were received per patient.

Treatment for depression

Psychotherapy for depression

Psychotherapy is largely divided into 6 categories according to the treatment unit and method, with individual psychotherapy being the most frequent category of all. The most common methods used are supportive therapy and intensive psychotherapy, which improves a patient's healthy individual mechanism and suppresses mental obstructive factors.

Family psychotherapy was next on the list after individual psychotherapy, and it was mainly done by individual therapy method in the direction of a belief that the entire family can be changed by treating each individual in the family separately.

Individual psychotherapy is done by listening to the patient’s state of mind every session in the psychiatric clinic. Family psychotherapy is carried out by the patient’s parents or brothers accompanying the session, if the cause of patient’s depression is from conflicts between the family members.

Sewon Lim,
the department of the medical science in mental health,
Kangbuk Samsung Hospital

Your Report of Depression

The risk of depression according to your sex/age, job, income level and current status (2015 standard)

Depression by sex-age according to the sample data
Treatment frequency
Days of treatment
The medical cost
Number of depression related suicides by job criteria
(Seoul)
Degree of depression by monthly income