OBJECTIVES : In the past decades, industrialized countries have seen an increase in the prevalence of psoriasis. The disease has a negative impact on quality of life. The aim of our study was to determine the epidemiological disease burden of psoriasis.

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 psoriasis were identified with the following code of the International Classification of Diseases 10^th revision: L4000-L4090.

RESULTS : The highest national patient numbers were in use of pharmaceuticals: 41,494 men, 43,211 women, in total 84,705patients, followed by general practice care (28,886 men, 29,307 women, in total 58,193 patients), and outpatient care (19,435 men, 20,346 women, in total 39,781 patients). Based on patient numbers with regard to use of pharmaceuticals, prevalence in 100,000 among men was 888.2 patients, among women 846.2, in total 866.2 patients. Regarding sex, in use of pharmaceuticals 49.0 % were men, 51.0 % were women, while in general practice care 49.6 % were men and 50.4 % were women.

CONCLUSIONS : There was no significant difference in prevalence of psoriasis between the sexes (5%). Global increase in prevalence is largely attributable to Western lifestyle and environmental factors.