Differences in the Incidence of Symptomatic Cervical and Lumbar Disc Herniation According to Age, Sex and National Health Insurance Eligibility: A Pilot Study on the Disease's Association with Work

Abstract

The aim of this research was to identify the differences in the incidence of symptomatic cervical and lumbar disc herniation according to age, sex, and national health insurance eligibility. We evaluated the hospital documents of patients who received medical treatment for symptomatic cervical and lumbar disc herniation between 2004 and 2010 and excluded those who claimed to have expenses at oriental medical clinics or pharmacies. Furthermore, any duplicate documents from the labor force population aged 20⁻69 years were excluded from the analysis. The results showed that the number of individuals diagnosed with symptomatic cervical and lumbar disc herniation increased with age, and the incidence of these diseases was higher in women than in men. Additionally, the incidence differed depending on the subject's qualification for health insurance. The incidence of lumbar disc herniation showed differences depending on the degree of the lumbar burden. The present study findings may help determine whether lumbar disc herniation is associated with tasks performed at the patient's workplace. Further research is needed to classify the risk of lumbar disk herniation in the workplace into detailed categories such as types of business, types of occupation, and lumbar compression force.

Keywords: age; disc herniation; insurance eligibility; sex.

Figure 1

Number of patients with cervical disc herniation (CDH) of 100,000 individuals according to gender and age (2004–2010) *. * According to the Chi-square test, there was a statistically significant difference of frequency with respect to gender and age (p-value < 0.001).

Figure 2

Number of patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH) of 100,000 individuals according to gender and age (2004–2010) *. * According to the Chi-square test, there was a statistically significant difference of frequency with respect to gender and age (p-value < 0.001).