Private costs almost equal health care costs when intervening in mild Alzheimer's: a cohort study alongside the DAISY trial.
BACKGROUND
Alzheimer's disease is the leading cause of dementia and affects about 25 million people worldwide. Recent studies have evaluated the effect of early interventions for dementia, but few studies have considered private time and transportation costs associated with the intervention. This study assessed the total economic costs associated with a multifaceted intervention for mild Alzheimer's disease, including an estimate of the ratio of public to private costs.


METHODS
The study sample comprised 163 dyads of patients and caregivers who received a multifaceted intervention of counselling sessions, courses and informational packages. The typical duration of the intervention was 7 months. A micro-costing approach was applied using prospectively collected data on resource utilisation that included estimates of participant time and transportation. Precision estimates were calculated using a bootstrapping technique and structural uncertainty was assessed with sensitivity analysis.


RESULTS
The direct intervention cost was estimated at EUR 1,070 (95% CI 1,029;1,109). The total cost (including private costs) was estimated at EUR 2,020 (95% CI 1,929;2,106) i.e. the ratio of private to public costs was almost 1:1.


CONCLUSIONS
Intervention for mild Alzheimer's disease can be undertaken at a relatively low cost to public funds. However, policy planners should pay attention to the significant private costs associated with an intervention, which may ultimately pose a threat to equity in access to health care.


BACKGROUND
Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN74848736.
Søgaard
Rikke
R
CAST-Centre for Applied Health Services Research and Technology Assessment, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark. ris@cast.sdu.dk
Sørensen
Jan
J
Waldorff
Frans B
FB
Eckermann
Ane
A
Buss
Dorthe V
DV
Waldemar
Gunhild
G
D000368:Aged; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000191:economics* / Q000628:therapy; D017028:Caregivers; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003376:Counseling / Q000191:economics; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006295:Health Resources / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D017149:Private Sector / Q000191:economics*