PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 481 - 2 Jul 2005

Global cost of dementia insanelyhigh

Global direct costs associated with dementia were anestimated $US156 billion in 2003, according to theresults of a modelling study presented at the firstAlzheimer’s Association International Conference onPrevention of Dementia, held in Washington, DC, US, inJune.

Researchers from Sweden used prevalence data fromdifferent regions and cost-of-illness studies from keycountries to estimate the global burden of dementia careper individual affected in relation to per-capita grossdomestic product (GDP) in each country. Based on aglobal prevalence of 27.7 million individuals withdementia, they calculated that the disease cost$US156 billion in 2003, ranging from $US129 billion to$US159 billion in the model’s sensitivity analysis.Notably, the majority of the cost associated withdementia care was attributed to "advanced economies",which account for nearly 40% of worldwide prevalence,remark the researchers. They add that the expectedincrease in the number of elderly individuals worldwide,particularly in developing countries, will present a "greatchallenge for social and healthcare systems".Alzheimer’s Association. Worldwide Cost of Alzheimer′s Disease and DementiaEstimated at $156 Billion. Media Release : 20 Jun 2005. Available from: URL:http://www.alz.org 809050696

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 2 Jul 2005 No. 4811173-5503/10/0481-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved