Eight out of ten deaths, chronic illness
Dec 26, 2024
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According to '2024 Chronic Disease Status and Issues' published by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the 26th, 275,183 deaths from chronic diseases accounted for 78.1% of all deaths as of 2023.
Among the top 10 causes of death, deaths from chronic diseases were in the order of cancer (24.2%), heart disease (9.4%), cerebrovascular disease (6.9%), Alzheimer's disease (3.2%), diabetes (3.1%), and high blood pressure (2.3%).
With the aging population, medical expenses due to chronic diseases reached 8.4% over the three years, from 71 trillion won in 2020 to 78 trillion won in 2021, 83 trillion won in 2022, and 90 trillion won in 2023. As of 2023, chronic disease medical expenses accounted for 84.5% of the total medical expenses.
The cost of circulatory diseases was 13.4 trillion won, accounting for 14.89% of the medical expenses for chronic diseases. This was followed by musculoskeletal diseases with 12.9% and cancer with 11.2%.
The cost of primary hypertension treatment was 4.4 trillion won, the highest as a single disease, and type 2 diabetes recorded 3.1 trillion won. According to the prevalence of chronic diseases over the past 10 years, high blood pressure in adults over the age of 19 has been maintained at around 20-22% and diabetes at around 10%.
On the other hand, hypercholesterolemia in adults has steadily increased for 10 years from 11.9% in 2012 to 22.0% in 2022.
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