Dementia Care Costs Outpace Other Illnesses

By Jonathan Springston, Associate Managing Editor, AHC Media

The out-of-pocket costs to care for a dementia patient in the last five years of life is $61,522, much higher than the costs for patients with heart disease and cancer at the same stage of life, according to a study released this week.

Researchers examined more than 1,700 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, aged 70 years or older, who died between 2005 and 2010 and placed them into four groups: high probability of dementia, those with heart disease, those with cancer, or those with other illnesses.

The study accounted for total social costs and other components, including Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, out-of-pocket expenses, and informal care, measured over the final five years of life, as well as out-of-pocket spending as a proportion of household income.

The average total cost per patient with dementia ($287,038) was significantly higher than that of those who died of heart disease ($175,136) or cancer ($173,383).

AHC Media continues to provide physicians with a variety of useful knowledge for preventing and treating dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as caring for such patients.

The November 15 and 29 issues of Internal Medicine Alert will each contain articles about the power of a healthy diet in maintaining cognitive function.

Neurology Alert leads the way in AHC’s Alzheimer’s/dementia reporting. The October issue weighed a study of patients with clinically diagnosed dementia. In that study, the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker profile of low CSF amyloid-ß1-42, high total tau, and high phosphorylated tau was seen in the majority of patients with clinically diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease. Substantial proportions of patients with non-Alzheimer’s dementia were also found to have the Alzheimer’s disease pathological profile. However, the value of CSF biomarker measurements in clinical practice is uncertain.

The August issue of Clinical Briefs in Primary Care referenced a study that found a 45-minute session of music therapy reduced agitated and disruptive behaviors in Alzheimer’s patients.

Prevention, treatment, and care remain challenges, but the fight continues, and AHC Media will continue providing the education medical professionals need to win the battle.