D型人格之早期乳癌病人罹病後醫療資源耗用之相關性探討

A Study of Medical Resource Expenditure in Early-stage Breast Cancer Patients with Type D Personality

目的：本研究對早期乳癌病人的D型人格比例進行調查並且探討D型人格病人與非D型人格病人在罹病後醫療資源耗用的相關性。方法：本研究以區域教學醫院在五年內已接受並完成全程治療之第一期與第二期乳癌病人為主要對象，自2011年10月1日至2012年3月31日以專職人員面訪共收集212份問卷資料，問卷內容包含病人人口學變項以及台灣版D型人格量表等，來進行統計分析。結果：研究發現早期乳癌病人中D型人格的比例為37.3%。此外，早期乳癌之D型人格病人與非D型人格患者其門診次數、住院天數、門診醫療費用與住院費用都沒有統計上的顯著差異。結論：研究結果顯示早期乳癌病人的D型人格病人與非D型人格病人在醫療資源耗用的情況上並沒有顯著的差異，由此可知在目前健保制度下，乳癌治療之醫療資源利用已趨於標準化

Objective: This study was to investigate the prevalence of patients with type D personality diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, and the use of medical expenditure between type D and non-type D personality, following the diagnosis of breast cancer. Methods: We included patients diagnosed with stages 1 and 2 breast cancer at a single regional teaching hospital to study their medical expenses, that of a fi ve-year full course of treatment. During October 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012, questionnaires (N = 212) were administered by hospital staff members in interviews to collect information about patient’s demographic variables and Taiwanese version of Type D Scale-14. Results: The prevalence of type D personality among early-stage breast cancer patients was 37.3%. The patients with and without type D personality were not found to have any signifi cant differences in numbers of outpatient visits, length of hospital stay, outpatient medical expenses, and inpatient medical expenses. Conclusion: This study results revealed that there were no differences existed in expenditure of medical resources between type D and non-type D early-stage breast cancer patients. We suggest that medical resource utilization in breast cancer has become standardized under the current National Health Insurance system.