OBJECTIVES : Left ventricular failure is one of the most common types of heart failure. The aim of our study was to determine the epidemiological disease burden of left ventricular failure.

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 patient numbers, case numbers and prevalence of care utilisation per 100,000 population according to age groups and sex. The following health insurance treatment categories were included into our study: general practice care, home care, in- and outpatient care, medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics, drugs and medical aids. Patients with left ventricular failure were identified with the following code of the International Classification of Diseases 10^th revision: I5010.

RESULTS : The highest national patient numbers were in outpatient care: 2,384 men and 1,685 women, in total 4,069 patients, followed by general practice care (1,229 men and 1,422 women, in total 2,651 patients), and pharmaceuticals (1,024 men and 1,187 women, in total 2,211 patients). Based on patient numbers with regards to pharmaceuticals, prevalence in 100,000 among men was 21.9 patients, among women 23.2 patients, in total 22.6. As regards sex distribution, in outpatient care 58.6% of patients were men and 41.4% were women, in general practice care, 46.4% of patients were men, 53.6% were women, in the use of pharmaceuticals, 46.3% of patients were men, 53.7% were women.

CONCLUSIONS : Prevalence of left ventricular failure was 1.06 times higher among women than among men. This disease represents a major escalating public health concern in our aging societies.