Socio-economic Aspects of Alzheimer's Disease.
Social development, better living conditions and medical advances lead to the fact that more people have the opportunity to live longer than in the past. The aging population is a characteristic feature of demographic trends in developed countries. This trend is closely linked with the issue of increasing number of diseases in old age and increasing government expenditure on health and social care. The most frequently mentioned diseases in old age include dementia. The cause may lie in all kinds of diseases, the most common are Alzheimer's disease and cerebrovascular disease. Now the care of current 35 million patients with dementia costs over $ 600 billion per year, it is approximately one percent of global Gross Domestic Product. This review discusses the recent issues and questions in the area of social and economic aspects of Alzheimer's disease. It focuses in detail on the national strategies in the approach to Alzheimer's disease, the anticipated problems concerning the insufficient number of social workers and necessary expenses of state budgets in the future. The situation in the area of health insurance companies' expenditures is illustrated in the context of the analysis of long-term care systems, in the chosen countries within the European Union.
Petra
P
Marešová
Hana
H
Mohelská
Josef
J
Dolejš
Faculty of Informatics and Management, University of Hradec Kralove, Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic;. kamil.kuca@fnhk.cz.
Kamil
K
Kuča
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D017281:Cost of Illness; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D038622:Internationality; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors