OBJECTIVES: Atherosclerosis is of public health importance and generates a considerable economic burden. The aim of our study was to calculate the annual health insurance treatment cost of atherosclerosis of native arteries of the extremities in Hungary.

METHODS: The data were derived from the financial database of the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund Administration (NHIFA), the only health care financing agency in Hungary. We analyzed the number of patients and the health insurance treatment cost for the year 2016. The following cost categories were included into the study: out-patient care, laboratory diagnostics, medical imaging, acute in-patient care, chronic in-patient care and drugs. Patients with atherosclerosis of native arteries of the extremities were identified with the following codes of the International Classification of Diseases 10^th revision: I70.2.

RESULTS: The number of patient underwent outpatient care was 80,011 (36.3 % women and 63.7 % men) with a mean age of 67.49 years (women: 69.37 years; men: 66.42 years). Number of patients admitted to in-patient hospital care was 14,998 (35.7 % women and 64.3 % men) with a mean age of 67.61 years (women: 70.10 years; men: 66.23 years). For the treatment of patients with atherosclerosis of native arteries of the extremities in 2016 the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund Administration spent 5.8 billion Hungarian Forint (HUF) which equals 20.67 million American Dollars (USD) or 22.4 million Japanese Yen (JPY). Major cost drivers were acute inpatient care (58.4 % of total health insurance costs), medical imaging (13.9 %) and out-patient care (9.4 %).

CONCLUSIONS: Atherosclerosis of native arteries of the extremities represents a significant burden for the Hungarian health insurance system. The disease is more common in men (63-64 %) than women. There is a significant difference (3-4 years) in the onset of the disease between women and men.