OBJECTIVES: Female infertility is a global health problem, which affects approximately 120 million women worldwide. It constitutes a significant and growing burden on patients, health care systems and the society as well. Our aim was to determine the annual costs of the health insurance system related to the female infertility associated with male factors in Hungary.

METHODS: Data were derived from the database of the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund Administration, of the year 2010 and 2019. Dataset included annual health insurance costs, numbers of patient and cost distribution calculated for age groups. The following cost categories were included into the study: general practice care, home care, in- and outpatient care, medical imaging, laboratory diagnostics and pharmaceuticals. Patients with female infertility associated with male factors were identified with the following code of the International Classification of Diseases 10th revision: N97.4.

RESULTS: In 2019, the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund Administration spent 3.28 million USD on the health care treatment of patients with female infertility, which is higher than in 2010 (3.1 million USD). The costs of inpatient care (2010: 82.5%; 2019: 84.5%) and pharmaceuticals (2010: 13.6%; 2019: 16.9%) were the main cost drivers from the annual health care expenditure in the analyzed years. Annual health care treatment cost per a patient was 1,496 USD in 2010 and 1,605 USD in 2019 in inpatient care. The highest annual health insurance costs were found in ‘30-39’ and ‘20-29’ age groups in 2010, while in 2019 cost among patients was increased in the ’30-39’ and ’40-49’ age groups remarkably.

CONCLUSIONS: In 2019 the utilization of treatments with female infertility associated with male factors was 13% higher than in 2010. The largest increase of health insurance costs were found in the treatment of ’40-49’ age group, especially in inpatient, pharmaceuticals and outpatient care.