Economics of the Iceberg: Informal Care Provided to French Elderly with Dementia.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

Dementia has a substantial effect on patients and their relatives, who have to cope with medical, social, and economic changes. In France, most elderly people with dementia live in the community and receive informal care, which has not been well characterized.

METHODS:

Using a sample of 4680 people aged 75 years and older collected in 2008 through a national comprehensive survey on health and disability, we compared the economic value of the care received by 513 elderly people with dementia to that received by a propensity score- matched set of older people without dementia.

RESULTS:

More than 85% of elderly people with dementia receive informal care; the estimation of its economic value ranges from €4.9 billion (proxy good method) to €6.7 billion (opportunity cost method) per year.

CONCLUSIONS:

The informal care provided to people with dementia has substantial annual costs; further work should be done to examine the social and economic roles foregone as a result of this care.

• Authors: Alain Paraponaris, Bérengère Davin
• Journal: Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (Value Health) Vol. 18 Issue 4 Pg. 368-75 (Jun 2015) ISSN: 1524-4733 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 26091590 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2015 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Topics

• Aged
• Aged, 80 and over
• Caregivers (economics, standards)
• Dementia (economics, epidemiology, therapy)
• Female
• France (epidemiology)
• Health Surveys (methods)
• Humans
• Male
• Patient Care (economics, methods, standards)