Teen drug poisoning in South Korea rises 31.5% in four years; cause drugs unknown
Version 2: Maeil Business has now reported the same health insurance figures, adding the breakdown by sex and the hospitalisation rate, with no new facts about the increase itself.
In short
Teenagers treated for drug poisoning in South Korea rose 31.5% over four years, from 1,761 in 2021 to 2,315 last year, according to health insurance data submitted to ruling-party lawmaker So Byeong-hun. Nine in ten of last year’s teen patients were hospitalised, but the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service says its claims-based statistics cannot show which substances or products caused the poisonings.
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The number of teenagers in South Korea treated for drug poisoning rose 31.5% over four years, from 1,761 in 2021 to 2,315 last year, according to Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service data obtained by Rep. So Byeong-hun of the Democratic Party and reported by Yonhap and Maeil Business. Over the same period, total drug poisoning patients rose 3.5%, from 15,743 to 16,294, so the increase among 10- to 19-year-olds was about nine times the overall rate. [ 1 , 3 ]
Broken down by sex, male teen patients rose 33.6%, from 330 to 441, and female teen patients 31.0%, from 1,431 to 1,874, the same figures showed. Both Yonhap and Maeil Business reported that 90.0% of last year’s teen patients received inpatient treatment; Yonhap put the number at 2,084, while Maeil Business printed 284, a figure inconsistent with its own stated rate. [ 1 , 3 ]
The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service said its claims-based statistics can show how many drug poisoning patients there are and how that number trends, but cannot reveal which specific ingredient or product caused a poisoning, or whether the medicine involved was over-the-counter or prescription. The agency was cited as describing this as a limit on understanding patterns of misuse and abuse. Korea Economic Daily also reported the rise alongside the fact that the cause drugs are unknown. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
So said that if the specific drugs, routes and causes of poisoning are not identified, it is impossible to know which drugs prevention should focus on or which teenagers need the most protection. He called on the Ministry of Health and Welfare to work with relevant agencies to analyse the causes and risk characteristics of teen drug poisoning and to build a national management system linking that analysis to prevention and management measures. [ 1 , 3 ]
Why it matters
The increase is concentrated among 10- to 19-year-olds and is roughly nine times the rate for drug poisoning patients overall, while the health insurance data cannot identify the drugs involved. That limits the ability of health authorities to target prevention at particular medicines or groups of teenagers, an issue the lawmaker who released the figures says needs a national management system.
Key facts
- Teenagers aged 10 to 19 treated for drug poisoning rose from 1,761 in 2021 to 2,315 last year, a 31.5% increase. [ 1 , 3 ]
- Over the same period total drug poisoning patients rose 3.5%, from 15,743 to 16,294, so the increase among teenagers was about nine times the overall rate. [ 1 , 3 ]
- Male teen patients rose 33.6%, from 330 to 441, and female teen patients 31.0%, from 1,431 to 1,874. [ 1 , 3 ]
- Of last year’s teen drug poisoning patients, 90.0% received inpatient treatment, according to the figures cited by Yonhap and Maeil Business. [ 1 , 3 ]
- The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service said claims-based statistics can show patient numbers and trends but cannot identify the specific ingredient or product involved, or whether it was an over-the-counter or prescription medicine. [ 1 , 3 ]
- The figures came from data the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service provided to Rep. So Byeong-hun of the Democratic Party. [ 1 , 3 ]
- So called for the Ministry of Health and Welfare to work with relevant agencies on a national management system linking analysis of the causes to prevention measures. [ 1 , 3 ]
- Korea Economic Daily reported the steep rise in teen drug poisoning alongside the fact that the cause drugs are unknown. [ 2 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- Teenagers treated for drug poisoning rose 31.5% over four years, from 1,761 in 2021 to 2,315 last year. [ 1 , 3 ]
- The increase among 10- to 19-year-olds was far steeper than for drug poisoning patients overall, whose numbers rose 3.5%. [ 1 , 3 ]
- Last year’s teen patients were overwhelmingly hospitalised, with a 90.0% inpatient rate. [ 1 , 3 ]
- The drugs responsible for the poisonings cannot be identified from the health insurance data, an outlet-reported limit stated by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]
- The figures come from Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service data provided to Rep. So Byeong-hun of the Democratic Party. [ 1 , 3 ]
Still unclear
- Which specific drugs or ingredients caused the teen poisonings, and whether they were over-the-counter or prescription medicines. The Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service said its claims-based statistics do not capture this, according to Yonhap and Maeil Business.
- The absolute number of teen patients hospitalised last year. Yonhap reports 2,084 of 2,315, while Maeil Business prints 284; both state a 90.0% inpatient rate, and the Maeil Business figure appears inconsistent with that rate.
- What causes or risk characteristics drive the increase among teenagers. No document provides an analysis; the lawmaker’s comments say no such identification has been made.