OBJECTIVES Hypertensive renal disease is a major cause of morbidity in developing and in industrialized regions. The aim of our study was to calculate the annual health insurance treatment cost of hypertensive renal disease 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 2017. 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 hypertensive renal disease were identified with the following codes of the International Classification of Diseases 10^threvision: I12.

RESULTS Number of patients admitted to in-patient hospital care was 1,347 (60.8 % women and 39.2 % men) with a mean age of 74.54 years (women: 77.13 years; men: 70.53 years). The number of patients underwent outpatient care was 6,703 (62.8 % women and 37.2 % men) with a mean age of 73.94 years (women: 75.19 years; men: 71.82 years). For the treatment of patients with hypertensive renal diseasein 2017 the Hungarian National Health Insurance Fund Administration spent 256.6 million Hungarian Forint (HUF) which equals 830,073 Euros (EUR) or 935,818 American Dollars (USD). Major cost drivers were acute inpatient care (73.3 % of total health insurance costs), outpatient care (11.2 %)and chronic inpatient care (7.2 %).

CONCLUSIONS Hypertensive renal diseaserepresents a significant burden for the Hungarian health insurance system. The disease is more common in women (60-62 % than men. There is significant difference (3-6 years) in the onset of the disease between women and men.