OBJECTIVES: Seropositive form of rheumatoid arthritis accounts for approximately two-thirds of all cases. The aim of our study was to determine the epidemiological disease burden of seropositive rheumatoid arthritis in Hungary.

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 seropositive rheumatoid arthritis were identified with the following code of the International Classification of Diseases 10^th revision: M05.9.

RESULTS: The highest national patient numbers were in outpatient care: 1,968 men, 9,711 women, in total 11,679 patients, followed by use of pharmaceuticals (2,148 men, 9,180 women, in total 11,328 patients), and general practice care (1,775 men, 7,741 women, in total 9,516 patients). Based on patient numbers in use of pharmaceuticals, prevalence in 100,000 among men was 46.0 patients, among women 179.8, in total 115.8 patients. Regarding sex, in outpatient care 16.9 % of patients were men, 83.1 % were women, while regarding the use of pharmaceuticals 19.0 % of patients were men and 81.0 % were women.

CONCLUSIONS: Based on our findings the prevalence was 3.1 times higher in women identified with the code M06.9 and 3.9 times higher in women identified with the code M05.9 in Hungary, for the year 2018.