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Utilization of Laboratory Tests for Tuberculosis and Mycobacterial Disease in Korea

OBJECTIVES: In Korea, a large portion of tuberculosis (TB) patients are diagnosed and treated in private institutes. Laboratory tests are crucial for TB control. There are many possible problems using laboratory tests in the private sector. In this study, we aimed to investigate the characteristics...

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Autores principales: Kim, Chang-Ki, Choi, Sung Won, Park, Mi-Sun
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4301636/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25861576
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phrp.2014.10.008
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author Kim, Chang-Ki
Choi, Sung Won
Park, Mi-Sun
author_facet Kim, Chang-Ki
Choi, Sung Won
Park, Mi-Sun
author_sort Kim, Chang-Ki
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: In Korea, a large portion of tuberculosis (TB) patients are diagnosed and treated in private institutes. Laboratory tests are crucial for TB control. There are many possible problems using laboratory tests in the private sector. In this study, we aimed to investigate the characteristics and trends of utilizing laboratory tests for TB and mycobacterial diseases in the private sector by analyzing the National Health Insurance (NHI) database. METHODS: After selecting TB or other mycobacteria-related test items, we searched the number and cost of each item on the website of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service using the code of each test from 2007 to 2012. RESULTS: Our data revealed that the number and cost of tests drastically increased between 2007 and 2012. Culture and molecular tests primarily contributed to the tremendous increases. For each year, concentrated smearing and fluorochrome staining were more commonly used. The number of serologic tests for latent TB infection stagnated, despite the expansion of contact investigation. CONCLUSION: The NHI data could be considerably useful for understanding the utilization trends of laboratory tests for TB and mycobacterial diseases in Korea. Our data showed that TB laboratory systems have recently improved. In this study, many issues were noticed. Therefore, solutions to these issues are required and the continued monitoring of NHI data regarding laboratory diagnosis.
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spelling pubmed-43016362015-04-08 Utilization of Laboratory Tests for Tuberculosis and Mycobacterial Disease in Korea Kim, Chang-Ki Choi, Sung Won Park, Mi-Sun Osong Public Health Res Perspect Original Article OBJECTIVES: In Korea, a large portion of tuberculosis (TB) patients are diagnosed and treated in private institutes. Laboratory tests are crucial for TB control. There are many possible problems using laboratory tests in the private sector. In this study, we aimed to investigate the characteristics and trends of utilizing laboratory tests for TB and mycobacterial diseases in the private sector by analyzing the National Health Insurance (NHI) database. METHODS: After selecting TB or other mycobacteria-related test items, we searched the number and cost of each item on the website of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service using the code of each test from 2007 to 2012. RESULTS: Our data revealed that the number and cost of tests drastically increased between 2007 and 2012. Culture and molecular tests primarily contributed to the tremendous increases. For each year, concentrated smearing and fluorochrome staining were more commonly used. The number of serologic tests for latent TB infection stagnated, despite the expansion of contact investigation. CONCLUSION: The NHI data could be considerably useful for understanding the utilization trends of laboratory tests for TB and mycobacterial diseases in Korea. Our data showed that TB laboratory systems have recently improved. In this study, many issues were noticed. Therefore, solutions to these issues are required and the continued monitoring of NHI data regarding laboratory diagnosis. 2014-11-04 2014-12 /pmc/articles/PMC4301636/ /pubmed/25861576 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phrp.2014.10.008 Text en © 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-NC License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0).
spellingShingle Original Article
Kim, Chang-Ki
Choi, Sung Won
Park, Mi-Sun
Utilization of Laboratory Tests for Tuberculosis and Mycobacterial Disease in Korea
title Utilization of Laboratory Tests for Tuberculosis and Mycobacterial Disease in Korea
title_full Utilization of Laboratory Tests for Tuberculosis and Mycobacterial Disease in Korea
title_fullStr Utilization of Laboratory Tests for Tuberculosis and Mycobacterial Disease in Korea
title_full_unstemmed Utilization of Laboratory Tests for Tuberculosis and Mycobacterial Disease in Korea
title_short Utilization of Laboratory Tests for Tuberculosis and Mycobacterial Disease in Korea
title_sort utilization of laboratory tests for tuberculosis and mycobacterial disease in korea
topic Original Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4301636/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25861576
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.phrp.2014.10.008
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