Endocrine Abstracts

Objectives: Between 2010 to 2018, the number of patients with thyroid disease in the Slovak Republic grew by 43.4%. We investigated the development of physical, laboratory, USG thyroid examinations and economic costs over the period 2010–2017.

Methods: The study was conducted using data from patient records of the General Health Insurance Company, which registered approximately 3,497,265 policyholders (66.13%) in 2010 and 3,238,500 policyholders (62.01%) in 2017. Laboratory (fT3, fT4, TSH, aTPO, aTG, thyreoglobulin, TRAK) and USG thyroid examinations were evaluated in relation to E00-E07 ICD diagnosis.

Results: The number of patients with these diagnoses had a constant growth tendency: 2010–258 622, 2011–272 936, 2012–284 086, 2013–304 213, 2014–341 496, 2015–349 498, 2016–368 393, 2017–370 745. The same tendency was observed in laboratory examinations and as well USG examinations: 2010–5 407 687 resp 1 382 937, 2011–5 303 433 resp 1 453 508, 2012–5 194 163 resp 1 526 951, 2013–5 391 737 resp 1 629 922, 2014–6 183 108 resp 1 751 184, 2015–6 024 153 resp 1 812 302, 2016–6 361 716 resp 1 913 681, 2017–6 158 735 resp 1 941 145. The total costs of endocrinology, laboratory and USG examinations were: 2010–11 355 988 €, 2011–11 214 956 €, 2012–11 132 859 €, 2013–11 654 875 €, 2014–12 917 370 €, 2015–13 100 799 €, 2016–14 104 543 € and in 2017–14 052 674 €. The average number of laboratory and USG examinations per patient was: 2010–3.57 resp 1.19; 2011–3.48 resp 1.19; 2012–3.29 resp 1.18; 2013–3.16 resp 1.19; 2014–3.10 resp 1.20; 2015–3.04 resp 1.20; 2016–3.01 resp 1.20; and 2017–2.96 resp 1.19.

Conclusions: The possibilities of influencing cost reduction without compromising the quality of health care will be focused on a stricter indication of laboratory examinations, in particular fT4, fT3, aTG, aTPO, TbG, based on the new expert guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of thyroid diseases issued by the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic.