Health in South Korea
Obesity has been consistently among the world's lowest - only 3% of the population were obese, which was the second lowest in the OECD, compared to over 30% in the U.S. or 23% in the UK.[5] As a result, mortality from cardiovascular disease was the fourth lowest in the OECD.[6][7]
Health issues
Cancer
The cancer treatment in South Korea is regarded to be one of the best in the world with South Korea also having the highest cancer survival rate.[8][9] Liver cancer is the second leading cause of cancer related deaths in South Korea, as well as the sixth most prevalent type of cancer in South Korea.[10] In addition, South Korea has a rather similar level of incidence when it comes to liver cancer patients. In a study in 2014, out of the 16,178 cases of people with liver cancer, 12.058 were men and 4,120 were women, this brings the male to female ratio to 2.9:1.[10] The most common ages where primary liver cancer cases were diagnosed was found to be between the ages 50–59 years (27.3%), subsequently the ages between 60-69 (25.2%) also had high levels of liver cancer patients.[10] As for women who had liver cancer, they generally diagnosed the illness at a much higher age range when comapred to male counterparts.[10] Furthermore, lung cancer is responsible for the most deaths in South Korea.[11] However, there have been attempts to minimize the smoking trends in South Korea and yet the rate of lung cancer patients is still increasing, this can be attributed to the aging population of South Korea and the incidence of lung cancer in never-smokers.[11] It was found that in 2012, the rate of lung cancer cases for every 100,000 residents was 43.9, and the survival rate increased to 21.9% from the years 2008-2012.[11] In South Korea the number of cancer survivors has increased gradually in addition to a higher percentage of individuals who have been diagnosed with cancer. The percentage of cancer cases has increased by 3.4% per year while the percentage of mortality has decreased by 2.7% per year. Depression is a common variable observed amongst long-term survivors as they are considered higher-risk for dealing with such health condition which can result in suicide if not taken seriously.[12]
Suicide
Obesity
In 2022, the general obesity rate in South Korea remained at 37.2 percent. This was the second most noteworthy rate recorded beginning around 2008. Obesity was characterized as having a body mass index (BMI) of 25 or over. South Korean men had a higher obesity rate than women.[16] This data is based on the ages from 19 and older.
Smoking
In 2020, 16.4% of Koreans were noted to be daily smokers.[17] According to the WHO in 2015, the age standardized prevalence of tobacco smoking in the Republic of South Korea is 49.8%.[18] Starting on January 1, 2015, the Ministry of Health banned smoking in cafés, restaurants, and bars.[19] Facilities, such as government offices, public institutions, public transport facilities and schools have become smoke-free zones.[19] In 1986, the Republic of Korea mandated tobacco manufactures to include warnings on cigarette packages.[19] The violation against the smoke policy include a fine, which is less than 100 thousand won.[20]
Drinking alcohol
Alcohol consumption in Korea stood at 8.3L per person in 2020 (compared to 12.9L in Latvia and 1.3L in Turkey) according to the OECD.[21] In 2018, the WHO noted that alcohol consumption distribution was 22.2% beer, 1.9% wine, 7.1% spirits, and 68.9% is attributed to "other.[22]
Age-standardized death rate of liver cirrhosis for male in South Korea is 20.6% of which 70.5% is attributed to alcohol.[23] Prevalence of alcohol use disorders (including alcohol dependence and harmful use of alcohol) is 10.3% of male in South Korea, more than twice of 4.6% of Western Pacific Region.[23]
Infectious disease
An outbreak of
Air pollution
According to the Environmental Performance Index 2016, South Korea ranked 173rd out of 180 countries in terms of air quality. More than 50 percent of the populations in South Korea exposed to dangerous levels of fine dust.[25]
Tuberculosis
South Korea ranks last place among OECD countries for tuberculosis. Its three major indexes: incidence rate, prevalence rate and death rate are the worst among the OECD countries since 1996 when South Korea became a member of OECD.[26]
Incidence (Estimated) | Treatment Success (%) | Mortality (unweighted average) | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Country | Value | Country | Value | Country | Value | |
Highest | Philippines | 554.0 | Cambodia | 94.0 | Philippines | 24.0 |
South Korea | 66.0 | Korea, South | 83.0 | South Korea | 4.7 | |
Lowest | Australia | 7.0 | China | 65.0 | Australia | 0.2 |
OECD Average | 13.0 | 62.0 | 0.8 |
Chronic disease
According to the
Unequal distribution of physicians
There are 2.5 doctors and 7.9 nurses per 1,000 people in South Korea (2020).[31] There are regional disparities between urban and rural areas for health professionals. The number of primary care doctors in cities is 37.3% higher than in rural areas, and the problem is growing because younger physicians are choosing to practice in the cities.[32]
See also
References
- ^ "WHO Global Health Observatory Life Expectancy at birth (years)". World Health Organization. December 1, 2020. Retrieved June 3, 2022.
- ^ "World Health Statistics 2016: Monitoring health for the SDGs". WHO. Archived from the original on May 23, 2016.
- PMID 35051210.
- ^ Lim, Stephen; et, al. "Measuring human capital: a systematic analysis of 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016". Lancet. Retrieved 5 November 2018.
- ISBN 978-92-64-01869-3.
- ^ "Health at a Glance 2015: OECD Indicators | READ online".
- ^ "OBESITY Update" (PDF). OECD. June 2014.
- ^ OECD: Health at a Glance 2019, pages 138-143.
- ^ Nam Kyung-don: S. Korea ranks among top OECD member countries in the treatment of cancer: data, The Korea Herald, November 21, 2019.
- ^ PMID 29249129.
- ^ PMID 27064578.
- ^ Park, Boram (September 11, 2017). "The Prevalence of Depression among Patients with the Top Ten Most Common Cancers in South Korea". Psychiatry Investigation: 2–3 – via National Library of Medicine.
- ^ "Suicide rates". OECD. 2012. Retrieved September 20, 2016.
- WHO. 2016. Retrieved September 20, 2016. Page 63. WHO member states with a population of less than 250,000 are not included in the statistics.
- PMID 21371965.
- ^ "South Korea: obesity rate yearly trend". Statista. Retrieved 2024-02-28.
- . Retrieved June 7, 2022.
- ^ "WHO | World Health Organization". gamapserver.who.int. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
- ^ a b c "Republic of Korea: Smoking ban extended | WHO FCTC Implementation Database". apps.who.int. Archived from the original on September 18, 2015. Retrieved 2017-05-13.
- ^ "국가법령정보센터". www.law.go.kr (in Korean). Retrieved 2017-05-13.
- . Retrieved June 7, 2022.
- ^ "Global status report on alcohol and health 2018". World Health Organisation. 2018. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- ^ a b "country profiles" (PDF). World Health Organization.
- ^ "South Korea finally MERS-free". Science | AAAS. 2015-12-23. Retrieved 2017-05-14.
- ^ "South Korea near bottom of world survey of air quality". The Korea Herald. May 16, 2016.
South Korea ranked 173rd out of 180 countries in terms of air quality, the Environmental Performance Index 2016 rankings showed Monday. ... A report said that 1.3 billion people exposed to poor air quality lived in East Asian countries, with more than 50 percent of the populations in South Korea and China exposed to dangerous levels of fine dust.
- ^ "'결핵 후진국' 한국, 환자가 급증한 이유는" ["Tuberculosis backward country" South Korea, The reason for the surge of patients]. March 25, 2017. Archived from the original on August 31, 2016.
- ^ "Health at a Glance: Asia/Pacific 2020 - Global Tuberculosis Report 2019". OECD iLibrary. 2019. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- PMID 32056401.
- ^ South Korea country profile. Library of Congress Federal Research Division (May 2005). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Song, Y. J. (2009). The South Korean Health Care System. International Medical Community, 52(3), 206-209. doi:February 25, 2014"
- ^ "Doctors (indicator)". OECD. 2022. Retrieved June 9, 2022.
- ^ Lee, J (2003). Health care reform in South Korea: Success or Failure?.93(1), 44-51. doi:March 3, 2014