The prevalence of Behçet's disease in Korea: data from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service from 2011 to 2015.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to identify the prevalence of Behçet's disease (BD) from data in the Healthcare Bigdata Hub of the Health Insurance Review & Assessment (HIRA) Service from 2011 to 2015 in Korea.

METHODS: This study collected information on primary and auxiliary diagnoses of BD (M352) by physicians according to the Korean Standard Classification of Diseases (KCD) codes. The prevalence of BD was assessed on the basis of age, sex, and geographical distribution. We used time series analysis, using the ARIMA model for the expected prevalence of BD from 2016 to 2025.

RESULTS: The overall prevalence of BD was gradually increased, ranging from 32.8 to 35.7 per 100,000 population over the study period. The male to female ratio of BD ranged from 0.54:1 to 0.56:1, revealing a female predominance from 2011 to 2015. Among five districts in Korea, the prevalence in the Seoul Metropolitan district was the highest, with a slowly increasing trend for the study period, accounting for about 60.3% of total BD patients. The expected prevalence of BD patients was estimated to range from 36.9 (95% CI 35.0 - 39.0) to 44.7 (95% CI 40.2 - 49.6) between 2016 and 2025.

CONCLUSIONS: This study found that the overall prevalence of BD is estimated to be approximately 35.0 per 100,000 population, with female predominance, and predicts gradually increased prevalence of BD in Korea.