OBJECTIVES: To assess inequity in the distribution of communicable and non-communicable diseases among the adult population of Pécs City, Hungary.

METHODS: This is an ecological study, and the study population was adult patients living in the city of Pécs who were treated for circulatory, neoplasm, or respiratory diseases in 2019. Hospitalization and local socioeconomic data by Zip codes were obtained from the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary and the Hungarian Central Statistical Office. Diseases were defined according to the International Classification of Diseases, 10^th revision (ICD-10). The difference and ratio of proportions of treated diseases, and the concentration index (C) were calculated. Zip codes were ranked from categories 1 to 5 based on socio-demographic variables. A P-value of less than 0.05 was used as the cut-off point for statistical significance. IBM SPSS version 25 and STATA version 14.0 software were used for data analysis.

RESULTS: Based on employment status, neoplasms are more distributed among the population living in Zip codes where many people are unemployed (C = -.05277525; CI95% = -.09754951, -.00800099). Based on apartment ownership, neoplasms (C = -.07419624; CI95% = -.11023933, -.03815315) and circulatory diseases (C = -.02796282; CI95% = -.05204371, -.00388193) are more prevalent in Zip codes with fewer apartment owners.

CONCLUSIONS: in the City of Pécs, there is inequity in the distribution of Neoplasms which is based on employment status and apartment ownership. And inequity in the distribution of circulatory diseases based on apartment ownership. Efforts should be made to reduce health inequity in the distribution of these diseases among the low economic level population of the city.