title: The societal costs of dementia in Sweden 2012 - relevance and methodological challenges in valuing informal care.
abstract: In this study, we sought to estimate the societal cost of illness in dementia in Sweden in 2012 using different costing approaches to highlight methodological issues.
  
  
  
  We conducted a prevalence-based cost-of-illness study with a societal perspective.
  
  
  
  The societal costs of dementia in Sweden in 2012 were SEK 62.9 billion (approximately €7.2 billion, approximately US$9.0 billion) or SEK 398,000 per person with dementia (approximately €45,000, approximately US$57,000). By far the most important cost item is the cost of institutional care: about 60% of the costs. In the sensitivity analysis, different quantification and costing approaches for informal care resulted in a great variation in the total societal cost, ranging from SEK 60 billion (€6.8 billion, US$8.6 billion) to SEK 124 billion (€14.1 billion, US$17.8 billion).
  
  
  
  The societal costs of dementia are very high. The cost per person with dementia has decreased somewhat, mainly because of de-institutionalisation. The majority of the costs occur in the social care sector, but the costing of informal care is crucial for the cost estimates.
authors.affiliation: Aging Research Centre, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS), Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden. anders.wimo@ki.se.|Division of Neurogeriatrics, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS), Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden. anders.wimo@ki.se.|Centre for Research & Development, Uppsala University/County Council of Gävleborg, Gävle, Sweden. anders.wimo@ki.se.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wimo
authors.affiliation: Aging Research Centre, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS), Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Linus
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jönsson
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurogeriatrics, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS), Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fratiglioni
authors.affiliation: Division of Caring Sciences, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS), Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.|Department of Nursing, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.|Department of Health Sciences, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden.
authors.forename: Per Olof
authors.initials: PO
authors.lastname: Sandman
authors.affiliation: Aging Research Centre, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS), Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gustavsson
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurogeriatrics, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS), Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sköldunger
authors.affiliation: Stockholm Gerontology Research Centre, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Lennarth
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Johansson
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D017281:Cost of Illness; D003704:Dementia / Q000191:economics / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000451:nursing; D005260:Female; D017048:Health Care Costs; D006801:Humans; D007326:Institutionalization / Q000191:economics*; D008297:Male; D005791:Patient Care / Q000191:economics*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Cost of illness; Costing study; Dementia; Sweden