Management of Chronic Disease and Hospitalization Due to Diabetes among Type 2 Diabetes Patients in Korea: Using the National Sample Cohort Data 2002-2013

To prevent negative outcomes for diabetes patients, developing self-management skills is imperative. This study aimed to examine the association between management of chronic disease (MCD), which mainly involves educating patients about their chronic diseases for obtaining self-management skills and hospitalization due to diabetes among type 2 diabetes patients in Korea. Korean National Health Insurance Service National Sample Cohort data from 2002 to 2013 were used. A total of 54,031 type 2 diabetes patients were included in the study. If patients received the MCD within 1 year from the onset of diabetes, we categorized them as "MCD received patients" We reclassified these groups into five groups: "non-receiving", "1-3 times", "4-6 times", "7-9 times" and "10-12 times" The dependent variable of this study was hospitalization due to diabetes. Cox proportional hazard regression was used. Of the patients, 86.2% (n = 46,571) did not received the MCD within the 1 year from the onset of diabetes. The number of MCDs received increased and the hazard ratio (HR) for hospitalization due to diabetes decreased; particularly, patients who received MCD 10-12 times per annum showed the lowest HR for hospitalization due to diabetes compared to patients in the MCD non-received group (1-3 times per annum: HR: 0.81, p = 0.0001; 4-6 times per annum: HR: 0.82, p = 0.0248; 7-9 times per annum: HR: 0.75, p = 0.0054; 10-12 times per annum: HR: 0.61, p < 0.0001). Considering the importance of raising self-managing diabetes skills, the findings can aid in determining the outcomes of the MCD program.