Objectives: Incidence and prevalence of chronic diseases are ever-increasing, causing QoL deterioration, and even premature mortality among <65-year-olds. Our aim was to assess diabetes mortality and health care utilization trends of Hungary and comparing them to OECD average.

Methods: A quantitative, descriptive study was carried out. Data were derived from OECD Health Statistics database. The following indicators were selected to analysis: diabetes mellitus deaths between 2000-2019, and related hospital discharges between 2004-2019 (standardised, per 100,000 population). OECD average was calculated based on countries who reported data in each year. Besides descriptive statistics, joinpoint regression method was used, changes in trend were assessed with the annual percent change (APC) (p<0.05). JoinPoint 4.9.0.0 software was used for calculating results.

Results: Diabetes mortality increased from 24.50/100,000 to 25.70/100,000 in Hungary, while OECD average decreased 25.12/100,000 to 22.77/100,000 between 2000-2019. After a decreasing trend, (APC_2006-2009: -9.18) a slight increase was shown (APC_2017-2019: 0.70) in Hungary. Average mortality within OECD significantly decreased between 2003-2013 (APC_2003-2013: -1.78; p<0.05) and 2016-2019 (APC_2016-2019: -6.21; p<0.05). Number of discharged patients with diabetes was 462.70/100,000 in 2004 and 198.80/100,000 in 2019, while OECD averages were 165.43/100,000 and 120.38/100,000 respectively. Average trend of OECD members has started to decrease significantly since 2008 (APC_2008-2019: -2.32; p<0.05), while Hungary showed a decreasing tendency since 2006 (APC_2006-2019: -6.96; p<0.05).

Conclusions: We found great differences between Hungary and OECD averages regarding the assessed indicators. Reducing the occurrence of preventable diseases is of great importance of health policy, as diabetes care results in a significant surplus of expenditure and burden for the society.