Demand for neurological services in Central Eastern Europe: a 10-year national survey in Hungary

Background and purpose: In order to plan neurological capacities at a national level for the next decade, the current use of neurological services should be evaluated. We analyzed the utilization of neurological services in Hungary, a country with a single-payer health insurance system covering the whole population.

Methods: We created a database from medical reports submitted to the National Health Insurance Fund from all hospitals and outpatient services between 2004 and 2013. The number of subjects presenting to the neurological healthcare system and their major diagnoses by 10th International Classification of Diseases categories were analyzed. The overall healthcare service utilization of these patients was also estimated.

Results: Of the 10 million inhabitants, 2.9 million people used an inpatient or outpatient neurological service at least once over the 10-year period. Annually, 1% of the population was admitted to neurological inpatient wards and 6% of the population used some neurological outpatient service. Major reasons for using neurological services were: cerebrovascular diseases (I60-I69; 1.2 million patients), episodic and paroxysmal disorders (G40-G47; 1.3 million patients) and general symptoms and signs (R50-R56; 1.3 million patients). The 2.9 million people had 12.7 million hospital admissions to any ward and 365.7 million outpatient visits to any specialist during the 10 years.

Conclusions: The demand for neurological services is high in Hungary; close to 30% of the population used an inpatient or outpatient neurological service at least once during this 10-year period. Results from this project provide data for international comparisons and help to ensure better informed and more focused resource allocation.