OBJECTIVES: Raynaud syndrome, also known as Raynaud's phenomenon, is a medical condition with episodes of reduced blood flow caused by the spasm of arteries. The aim of our study was to calculate the annual health insurance treatment cost of Raynaud Syndrome in Hungary.

METHODS: The data derive from the financial database of the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund Administration (NHIFA), the only health care financing agency in Hungary. We analyzed the health insurance treatment cost and the number of patients 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. Raynaud Syndrome was identified with the following codes of the International Classification of Diseases 10^th revision: I73.0.

RESULTS: The number of patient underwent outpatient care was 11,622 (83.8 % women and 16.2 % men) with a mean age of 50.8 years. Number of patients admitted to in-patient hospital care was 1,059 (83.6 % women and 16.4 % men) with a higher mean age of 56.49 years. For the treatment of patients with Raynaud Syndrome in 2016 the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund Administration spent 453.5 million Hungarian Forint (HUF) which equals 1.611 million American Dollars (USD) or 1.746 million Japanese Yen (JPY). Major cost drivers were pharmaceuticals (45.5 % of total health insurance costs), acute inpatient care (39.7 %) and laboratory diagnostics (6.3 %).

CONCLUSIONS: Raynaud Syndrome represent a significant burden for the health insurance system. Most of the patients (83 %) are women. Reimbursement of pharmaceuticals and acute inpatient care are the major cost drivers for Raynaud Syndrome in Hungary.