A Study on the Health Adjusted Life Expectancy in Korea using Microdata of National Health Insurance Service

초록

WHO has reported each country’s health level as a health adjusted life expectancy (HALE), but certain estimates such as Korea differ significantly from reality. HALE is determined by the disability weights, which may depend on data selection, disease classification, and definition of disease prevalence. However, evaluations or effect studies of these factors are limited. The objective of this study is to propose a more representative and improved method of health life expectancy in Korea. We used a whole-population data from National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) cohort dataset that targeted almost all Koreans between 2002 and 2015; covering approximately 98% of all Koreans. The prevalence of 123 diseases and the weighted disability prevalence was calculated by using the medical information of all citizens. The disability-weighted prevalence yielded a stable estimate of HALE after smoothing and adjusting sex- and age-specific disability-weighted prevalence. We found that HALE in Korea showed a decreasing trend, regardless of the prevalence definition.

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