Seasonal Trends of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Asthma with a Meteorological Analysis in Korea: Using the National Health Insurance Service–Senior Database 2.0

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma can exacerbate the seniors’ quality of life and increase socioeconomic burden. We analyzed the seasonal trends of the average medical costs and hospital days, meaning admission days plus outpatient visit days, and the association of them with the meteorological factors.Methods: The total number of people with COPD and asthma was 104,941 and 301,921, from 2002 to 2019, respectively. The information about hospital days and the medical cost were from the National Health Insurance Service-Senior Database 2.0. The meteorological factors included seasonal average temperature, daily temperature range, rainfall, wind speed, PM10, and PM2.5 from Korea Meteorological Administration and Korean Statistical Information Service. Analysis was done adjusted with age, by Pearson correlation coefficient, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient, generalized linear mixed model, multiple regression, generalized additive mixed model analysis, and paired t-test.Results: The severity of COPD and asthma appears to be lowest in fall, and winter is the second lowest burdensome season. The seasonal average cost of COPD was related with extreme temperature (P=0.0421). The seasonal average hospital days of COPD was related with extreme temperature (P=0.0267) and wind speed (P=0.0103). Both the seasonal average cost and hospital days of COPD may have negative correlation with humidity and positive correlation with wind speed. For asthma, the seasonal average cost was related with extreme temperature (P=0.0046) and the hospital days was related with extreme temperature (P=0.0074) and wind speed (P=0.0373). Both the average cost and hospital days of asthma had positive correlation with temperature and wind speed, and had negative correlation with humidity.Conclusions: According to our analysis, seniors with COPD and asthma should also care their respiratory health during spring and winter. We suggest them to avoid extreme temperatures, dry environments, and strong winds to protect their respiratory health, save medical cost, and shorten hospital days.