Effect of changes in the hearing aid subsidy on the prevalence of hearing loss in South Korea

Frontiers in Neurology

Neurology

Junhun Lee¹  Chul Young Yoon¹  Young Joon Seo²  Tae Hoon Kong² 

[1] Research Institute of Hearing Enhancement, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea;Department of Biostatistics, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea;Research Institute of Hearing Enhancement, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea;Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Yonsei University Wonju College of Medicine, Wonju-si, Gangwon-do, Republic of Korea;

关键词: hearing loss;    big-data;    hearing aid;    hearing disability;    prevalence;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fneur.2023.1215494

 received in 2023-06-06, accepted in 2023-08-10,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

ObjectivesSouth Korea's National Health Insurance has provided hearing aids to registered individuals with hearing disabilities since 1989. In 2015, hearing aid subsidies increased to approximately US$1,000. This study aimed to understand hearing loss categories in Korea by analyzing patients between 2010 and 2020 and the effect of the 2015 hearing aid policy change on the prevalence of hearing loss.MethodsThe participants were patients registered on the National Health Insurance Service database from 2010 to 2020 with hearing loss. A total of 5,784,429 patients were included in this study. Hearing loss was classified into conductive, sensorineural, and other categories. Patients with hearing loss were classified according to the International Classification of Diseases diagnostic code. Disability diagnosis and hearing aid prescription were defined using the National Health Insurance Disability and Hearing Aid Code.ResultsThe increase in hearing aid prescriptions and hearing disability registrations following the subsidy increase impacts hearing loss prevalence. Hearing aid prescription and hearing disability were found to have an effect on increasing hearing loss prevalence in univariate and multivariate analyses. The r-value of each analysis exceeded 0.95. Other hearing losses increased rapidly after the increased subsidy.ConclusionA hearing-impaired individual must be diagnosed with a hearing disability and prescribed a hearing aid to receive the subsidy. The prevalence of hearing loss was affected by increased hearing disabilities following changes in the hearing aid subsidy and the number of people prescribed hearing aids. Therefore, caution should be exercised when studying hearing loss prevalence over mid-long-term periods.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Yoon, Lee, Kong and Seo.