[Newsmp] In the third quarter of last year, the number of patients hospitalized for cancer treatment saw a significant decrease. In the meantime, breast cancer patients outnumbered those with lung cancer.
According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), the number of patients who received inpatient treatment due to malignant neoplasms (cancer) in the third quarter of last year decreased by 8.2% compared to the same period the previous year, totaling 333,047 individuals.
Stomach cancer patients dropped by 16.6%, thyroid cancer by 15.4%, bronchial and lung cancer by 12.6%, liver and intrahepatic bile ducts cancer by 11.3%, and colon cancer by 11.2%, with approximately half of them showing a double-digit decrease.
Furthermore, the number of patients receiving inpatient treatment for breast cancer decreased by 8.1%, while there was a 7.6% decline in rectal cancer cases and a 3.4% decrease in pancreatic cancer cases. On the other hand, that of prostate cancer increased by 1.8% increase, and bladder cancer by 4.2%.
As the number of inpatient cancer treatment cases significantly decreased, the corresponding medical expenses covered by health insurance decreased by 11.3%, from KRW 3.7825 trillion to KRW 3.3533 trillion.
In particular, the healthcare costs associated with hospitalization for thyroid cancer significantly dived, plummeting by 66.1% from KRW 320.6 billion to KRW 108.8 billion, reaching one-third of the previous level.
Stomach cancer fell by 16.1%, bronchial and lung cancer by 15.4%, liver and intrahepatic bile ducts by 14.2%, rectal cancer by 14.1%, and colon cancer by 13.7%.
In addition, pancreatic cancer decreased by 8.4%, breast cancer by 7.8%, bladder cancer by 1.3%, and only prostate cancer among the top 10 carcinomas rose by 0.9%.
Among them, the number of inpatient admissions for breast cancer reached 36,452, surpassing the 35,323 admissions for bronchial and lung cancer.
After breast cancer and lung cancer, both of which exceeded 35,000 cases, stomach cancer reached 27,979 cases, liver and intrahepatic bile duct cancer 27,048 cases, and thyroid cancer 25,825 cases, surpassing 25,000 cases for all five major cancer types.
In the third quarter of 2021, all five major types of cancer, including lung cancer surpassing 40,000 cases, exceeded 30,000 patients.
Following the top five cancers, colorectal cancer exceeded 19,858 cases, prostate cancer surpassed 16,831 cases, each exceeding 15,000 cases, while rectal cancer accounted for 12,168 cases, pancreatic cancer amounted to 12,155 cases, and bladder cancer reached 11,611 cases.
