Objectives: To investigate the magnitude and characteristics of the economic burden resulting from acute pesticide poisoning (APP) in South Korea.
Methods: The total costs of APP from a societal perspective were estimated by summing the direct medical and non-medical costs together with the indirect costs. Direct medical costs for patients assigned a disease code of pesticide poisoning were extracted from the Korean National Health Insurance Reimbursement Data. Direct non-medical costs were estimated using the average transportation and caregiving costs from the Korea Health Panel Survey. Indirect costs, incurred by pre-mature deaths and work loss, were obtained using 2009 Life Tables for Korea and other relevant literature.
Results: In 2009, a total of 11,453 patients were treated for APP and 1311 died, corresponding to an incidence of 23.1 per 100,000 population and a mortality rate of 2.6 per 100,000 population in South Korea. The total costs of APP were estimated at approximately US$ 150 million, 0.3% of the costs of total diseases. Costs due to pre-mature mortality accounted for 90.6% of the total costs, whereas the contribution of direct medical costs was relatively small.
Conclusion: Costs from APP demonstrate a unique characteristic of a large proportion of the indirect costs originating from pre-mature mortality. This finding suggests policy implications for restrictions on lethal pesticides and safe storage to reduce fatality and cost due to APP.
Keywords: agricultural chemicals; agroquímicos; carga social; charge pour la société; cost; coste; coûts; policy; politique; política; produits chimiques agricoles; regulación; regulation; réglementation; societal burden.
© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.