Comparison of Direct Medical Care Costs Between Erosive Reflux Disease and Non-erosive Reflux Disease in Korean Tertiary Medical Center

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Gastroesophageal reflux disease is one of the most common and frequent chronic disease requiring considerable cost. We investigated the medical care costs in the erosive reflux disease (ERD) and non-erosive reflux disease (NERD). METHODS: The risk factors and the direct medical care costs were analyzed retrospectively in the ERD (178 patients) and NERD (183 patients) groups for a follow up period of 2 years. RESULTS: Logistic regression analysis showed that the ERD was more frequent in the groups of male gender, alcohol consumption, higher body mass index (≥25 kg/m(2)), hiatal hernia, and higher triglyceride levels (≥150 mg/dL). The direct medical care costs per person for 2 years were found to be $384.8 (ERD) and $412.9 (NERD) without statistically significant differences (p = 0.364). However, 9.3% (17/183) of the NERD patients had visited the emergency room compared to 3.4% (6/178) of the ERD patients (p = 0.029). In addition, more NERD patients were hospitalized than ERD patients (p = 0.006), and because of the longer hospitalization period, the medical costs in NERD patients were higher than ERD patients (p = 0.038). CONCLUSIONS: In spite of the different risk factors for ERD and NERD, total direct medical care costs were similar between the ERD and NERD group. However, more visits to emergency room and longer hospitalization period with more hospitalization costs in NERD patients account for the differences in medical service and usage distribution between the 2 groups.