Dementia Care Costs And Cognitive Symptoms In People With Dementia: A Micro-Costing Approach.

Abstract

The present study aimed to enumerate and quantify the personal costs for dementia care by using the micro-costing method and to examine the costs associated with different levels of cognitive impairment. Twenty-one family caregivers of people with dementia were asked to report the 30-day expense in health care, social care, and informal care received by the dementia patient. Patients’ cognition was assessed by the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). The average monthly care cost for dementia was US$456.1 (SD=244.5), in which 15.8% was medical care cost, 30% was community care cost, and 54% was informal care costs. Higher medical cost was associated with better time orientation, place orientation, registration, and language ( rs = 0.50 to 0.64). Higher community care cost was associated with better place orientation and recall ( rs = 0.45 to 0.48). In summary, milder severity of cognitive symptoms increased the costs of care.