OBJECTIVES : Hearing loss is of social importance and generates a considerable health insurance burden. The aim of our study was to calculate the annual health insurance treatment cost of conductive and sensorineural hearing loss in Hungary.

METHODS : The data were derived from the financial database of the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund Administration (NHIFA), the only health care financing agency in Hungary. We analyzed the number of patients and the health insurance treatment cost for the year 2017. The following cost categories were included into the study: out-patient care, laboratory diagnostics, medical imaging, acute in-patient care, chronic in-patient care and drugs. Patients with conductive and sensorineural hearing losswere identified with the following codes of the International Classification of Diseases 10^threvision: H90.

RESULTS : The number of patients underwent outpatient care was 172,282 (55.3% women and 44.7% men) with a mean age of 57.4 years (women: 60.1 years; men: 54.09 years). Number of patients admitted to in-patient hospital care was 9,776 (58.0 % women and 42.0 % men) with a mean age of 53.32 years (women: 57.75 years; men: 47.22 years). For the treatment of patients conductive and sensorineural hearing lossin 2017 the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund Administration spent 2.011 billion Hungarian Forint (HUF) which equals 6.502 million Euros (EUR). Major cost drivers were acute inpatient care (61.9 % of total health insurance costs), out-patient care (30.7 %) and chronic inpatient care (4.9 %).

CONCLUSIONS : Conductive and sensorineural hearing loss represents a significant burden for the Hungarian health insurance system. The disease is slightly common in women (55-58%) than men. There is a significant difference (6-10 years) in the onset of the disease between women and men.