Regional Differences in Medical Costs of Chronic Kidney Disease in the South Korean Population: Marginalized Two-Part Model

Background: There are regional gaps in the access to medical services for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), and it is necessary to reduce those gaps, including the gaps involving medical costs.

Objective: This study aimed to analyze regional differences in the medical costs associated with CKD in the South Korean population.

Methods: This longitudinal cohort study included participants randomly sampled from the National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort of South Korea. To select those who were newly diagnosed with CKD, we excluded those who were diagnosed in 2002-2003 and 2018-2019. A total of 5903 patients with CKD were finally included. We used a marginalized two-part longitudinal model to assess total medical costs.

Results: Our cohort included 4775 (59.9%) men and 3191 (40.1%) women. Of these, 971 (12.2%) and 6995 (87.8%) lived in medically vulnerable and nonvulnerable regions, respectively. The postdiagnosis costs showed a significant difference between the regions (estimate: -0.0152, 95% confidence limit: -0.0171 to -0.0133). The difference in medical expenses between the vulnerable and nonvulnerable regions showed an increase each year after the diagnosis.

Conclusions: Patients with CKD living in medically vulnerable regions are likely to have higher postdiagnostic medical expenses compared to those living in regions that are not medically vulnerable. Efforts to improve early diagnosis of CKD are needed. Relevant policies should be drafted to decrease the medical costs of patients with CKD disease living in medically deprived areas.