OBJECTIVES : Type 2 diabetes is one of the leading non-communicable, chronic diseases of the world. Time spent living with the disease and age closely correlate with the development of polyneuropathy. The aim of our study was to determine the epidemiological disease burden of diabetic polyneuropathy.

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 diabetic polyneuropathy were identified with the following code of the International Classification of Diseases 10^th revision: G6320.

RESULTS : The highest national patient numbers were in general practice care: 40,437 men, 51,113 women, in total 91,550 patients, followed by outpatient care (40,271 men, 50,094 women, in total 90,365 patients), and use of pharmaceuticals (39,175 men, 49,651 women, in total 88,826 patients). Based on patient numbers in outpatient care, prevalence in 100,000 among men was 865.6 patients, among women 1.000.9, in total 936.3 patients. Patients above age 55 accounted for 89.34%, those above 65 accounted for 64.12% and patients aged above 75 accounted for 30.61% of patient numbers including all forms of care. Regarding sex, in general practice care 44.2 % were men, 55.8 % were women, while in outpatient care 44.6 % were men and 55.4 % were women.

CONCLUSIONS : Prevalence was found to be 16% higher among women. Significantly higher patient numbers were found in old age. Besides therapeutic interventions, prevention should gain considerably more attention to avoid polyneuropathic complications.