Validity of Self-reported Healthcare Utilization Data in the Community Health Survey in Korea

• DOI: 10.3346/jkms.2011.26.11.1409
• Publication Date: 2011-11-01T09:45:45Z
• Authors: Hwayoung Rim; Hyeongsu Kim; Kunsei Lee; Sounghoon Chang; Melbourne F Hovell; Young-Taek Kim; Yuna Kim; Gilwon Kang; Yangju Tak; Jeehye Im
• Keywords: Adult; Aged, 80 and over; Male; Insurance, Health; Reproducibility of Results; Community Health Centers; Middle Aged; Sensitivity and Specificity; 3. Good health; 03 medical and health sciences; 0302 clinical medicine; Health Care Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; Republic of Korea; Humans; Original Article; Female; Self Report; Aged

To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of Community Health Survey (CHS), we analyzed data from 11,217 participants aged ≥ 19 yr, in 13 cities and counties in 2008. Three healthcare utilization indices (admission, outpatient visits, dental visits) as comparative variables and the insurance benefit claim data of the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service as the gold-standard were used. The sensitivities of admission, outpatient visits, and dental visits in CHS were 54.8%, 52.1%, and 61.0%, respectively. The specificities were 96.4%, 85.6%, and 82.7%, respectively. This is the first study to evaluate the validity of nationwide health statistics resulting from questionnaire surveys and shows that CHS needs a lot of efforts to reflect the true health status, health behavior, and healthcare utilization of the population.