OBJECTIVES : Knee osteoarthritis is a highly prevalent chronic joint disease that represents a significant global public health problem. Our aim was to determine the annual health insurance treatment cost of knee osteoarthritis in Hungary.

METHODS : Data were derived from the financial database of the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund Administration (NHIFA), for the year 2018. Data analysed included annual health insurance costs, patient numbers and cost distribution calculated for age groups and sex. The following cost categories were included into the study: general practice care, home care, in- and outpatient care, medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, pharmaceuticals and medical aids. Patients with knee osteoarthritis were identified with the following code of the International Classification of Diseases 10^th revision: M17.

RESULTS : In 2018, the NHIFA spent 14.98 billion Hungarian Forints (HUF) on the treatment of patients with knee osteoarthritis, [55.41 million American Dollars (USD), or 46.97 million Euros (EUR)]. 31.0% of costs was spent on the treatment of male, 69.0% on female patients. The highest patient numbers were in general practice care: 113,160 men (33.2%), 227,934 women (66.8%) in total 341,094 patients. Acute inpatient care (56.0% of total health insurance costs in men, 49.6% in women), outpatient care (19.3% in men, 22.7% in women) and chronic inpatient care (8.4% in men, 10.3% in women) were the main cost drivers, while all other forms of medical care amounted to 16.3% in men and 17.4% in women. Annual health care treatment cost per patient was 1,230,777 HUF (4,554 USD/3,860 EUR) in men and 1,387,242 HUF (5,133 USD/4,350 EUR) in women.

CONCLUSIONS : Acute inpatient care was the major cost driver in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Distribution of major cost drivers showed a significant difference between the sexes. The average annual health insurance costs per patient was 13% higher for women.