Roughly seven out of every 10 people who went to hospital last year had a cold.

According to a report for 2008 published by the National Health Insurance Corporation and the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service on Sunday, acute bronchitis was the cause of the greatest number of patients last year with 10.77 million, followed by acute tonsillitis (8.95 million) and acute upper respiratory infection (6.39 million). Acute pharyngitis came eighth with 4.81 million patients, and acute nasopharyngitis ninth with 4.77 million. Five out of the 10 most common complaints were related to cold.

Of the total of 35.69 million people who visited hospitals with one complaint or another, about 70 percent had cold symptoms. The other illnesses in the top 10 were periodontitis in third place with 6.75 million patients, dental caries in fifth place with 5.36 million, gastritis and duodenitis in sixth with 5.03 million, gum disease in seventh place with 4.92 million, and allergic rhinitis in 10th with 4.61 million.