Study: Societal Cost of Informal Care for Dementia Patients Put at $18 Billion

The societal cost of care for older Americans with dementia, including those with Alzheimer's disease, should include $18 billion a year for time spent by family and friends in providing informal care, according to researchers at the University of Michigan.

For their study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, researchers analyzed data from the U-M Health and Retirement Study, which uses a large, nationally representative sample of older Americans to estimate the additional time and associated costs of providing informal care to older people with dementia.

An analysis of more than 7,000 people aged 70 and over showed that those with cognitive impairments received much more informal help than those with normal cognitive function. The kind of help they received included bathing, dressing, eating, fixing meals, grocery shopping and money management.

"We found that the care-giving burden on family members increased substantially as cognitive impairment worsened," said Dr. Kenneth M. Langa, assistant professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School and lead author of the study.

"Those with mild dementia received 8.5 more hours of care per week than elders with normal cognitive function, who received only 4.6 hours of help per week. And those with severe dementia received 41.5 more hours of help per week than elders with normal cognition," Langa said.

Researchers believe their findings show the importance of including valid estimates of unpaid caregiver time when evaluating future clinical and policy interventions aimed at reducing the impact of dementia on individuals, families, and society.

"Helping those with dementia places a significant burden on both families and society, and this burden increases sharply as the level of cognitive impairment progresses from mild to severe," said Langa.

"Both physicians and policy makers will be confronted with difficult choices regarding the allocation of health care resources as the U.S. population ages and the prevalence of dementia increases," said Dr. A. Mark Fendrick, associate professor of internal medicine and co-author of the study.

"Since about 35 percent of the caregivers are spouses, elderly women may be especially vulnerable to the potential negative consequences of providing this level of care and cost. It did not include, for example, the time spent monitoring and managing the behavioral problems associated with dementia, such as paranoia, hostility and wandering." Fendrick said. "Nor did the study include the costs associated with the support families and friends typically provide after individuals with dementia move to nursing homes."

Other sources: University of Michigan