Net costs of dementia in Sweden - an incidence based 10 year simulation study.
BACKGROUND
Aging of the population results in increasing number people suffering from dementia, and this will have a great impact on costs for the society. Because of the long duration of dementia disorders, it is difficult to collect empirical data for the whole survival period of incident cases. Therefore, modeling approaches are frequently used. The purpose of this study was to describe the costs of an incident dementia cohort with progression modeling.


METHODS
Epidemiological data indicated that the incidence of dementia in Sweden was 24,000 people in 2005. Thus, incident cases were run in a Markov model for 10 cycles of 1 year each. Severity state specific costs were used and defined by Clinical Dementia Rating scale.


RESULTS
Total cost for the cohort was 27.24 billion Swedish Krona (SEK). The mean cost per person and year was 269,558 SEK. Total cost for long-term institutional care was 21 billion SEK during the modeled period.


CONCLUSIONS
Cost of long-term institutional care is the major cost driver, even in mild dementia.
NVS, Aging Research Center, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. Anders.Skoldunger@ki.se
Anders
A
Sköldunger
Anders
A
Wimo
Kristina
K
Johnell
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D003704:Dementia / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007326:Institutionalization / Q000191:economics; D008297:Male; D008390:Markov Chains; D008875:Middle Aged; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology