The number of patients per every 100,000 in all ages was 60.2 in 2012 from 52.3 persons in 2008, an annual average growth rate of 3.6 percent.(image: Kobizmedia/Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, June 3 (Korea Bizwire) – A study said males are more likely to have mental developmental disorders than female counterparts by more than three times, with patients younger than 10 years old or below accounting for 64 percent of the total.
The National Health Insurance Service said this on June 1 based on data for the past five years on health insurance claims payments.
As of the end of 2012, the number of patients hospitalized for developmental disorders for the past five years was 29,916, of which male patients took up 76 percent.
By age group, the babies and toddlers in their age between 0 and 4 accounted for 35.4 percent, followed by those in their age between 5 and 9 with 28.3 percent. That means as many as 64 percent of developmental disorder patients were in their age below 10.
The number of patients per every 100,000 in all ages was 60.2 in 2012 from 52.3 persons in 2008, an annual average growth rate of 3.6 percent. The same rate for those patients in their age between 0 and 4 was 5.5 percent, that of those in their age from 5 to 9 was 1.6 percent, and that of those in their age from 10 to 14 was 6.3 percent. The 2012 number of patients per 100,000 in ages between 0 and 4 was 461.0, followed by 368.3 for those in their age from 5 to 9, and 151.3 for youths in their age between 10 and 14.
(graphic:Kobizmedia/Korea Bizwire)
By type of symptoms, “overall developmental disorder” took the largest portion of 44.6 percent, followed by “language and learning disabilities” with 43.8 percent.
Developmental disorder is a group of psychiatric conditions originating in childhood that involve serious impairment in different areas, including language disorders, learning disorders, motor disorders, and autism spectrum disorders.
Song Jung-eun, professor of psychiatry at the National Health Insurance Service’s Ilsan Hospital, said, “Abilities related to the central nervous system include language, visual-spatial ability, and motor ability and disorders related to this are overall developmental disorder, language disorder, and learning disorder.”
Written by Sean Chung (schung10@koreabizwire.com)
Lifestyle (Follow us @Lifestylenews_Korea)
