Estimated number of self-reported intervertebral disc disorders in Korean adults based on the data from the third Korea national health and nutrition examination survey

Jhun, Hyung Joon; Ahn, Kang; Lee, Sang Chul

Clinical Research

General Article

Anesthesia and Pain Medicine 2009;4(3):208-213.
Published online July 31, 2009.

Estimated number of self-reported intervertebral disc disorders in Korean adults based on the data from the third Korea national health and nutrition examination survey

Hyung Joon Jhun, Kang Ahn, Sang Chul Lee

¹Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, Korea.
²Chronic Pain Management Center, Cha Biomedical Center, Kangnam Cha Hospital, Cha University, Seoul, Korea.
³Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. sangclee@snu.ac.kr

Abstract

BACKGROUND
This study estimated the number of self-reported intervertebral disc disorders in Korean adults from a representative sample.
METHODS
We analyzed the data from the third Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted in 2005 using surveyfreq procedure of the SAS statistical package and estimated the number of Korean adults who reported that they experienced intervertebral disc disorders during their lifetime (lifetime patients) and those who reported that they experienced intervertebral disc disorders lasting for three or more months during the past year or were suffering from intervertebral disc disorders at the time of survey (one-year patients).
RESULTS
It was estimated that there were 2,653,230 (proportion, 7.4%; 95% CI, 2,490,624-2,815,835) self-reported lifetime patients and 2,250,850 (6.3%; 2,102,714-2,398,986) self-reported one-year patients among 35,719,293 Korean adults aged 20?89 years in 2005.
CONCLUSIONS
Further efforts to investigate exact number of Korean adults with intervertebral disc disorders and improve treatment outcomes of intervertebral disc disorders are needed.

Key Words: epidemiology, intervertebral disc, population