Economics of the Iceberg: Informal Care Provided to French Elderly with Dementia

Abstract Objectives Dementia has a substantial effect on patients and their relatives, who have to cope with medical, social, and economic changes. In France, most elderly people with dementia live in the community and receive informal care, which has not been well characterized. Methods Using a sam...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Value in health 2015-06, Vol.18 (4), p.368-375
Main Authors: Paraponaris, Alain, PhD, Davin, Bérengère, PhD
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ADL
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Caregivers - economics
Caregivers - standards
cost
count models
dementia
Dementia - economics
Dementia - epidemiology
Dementia - therapy
Economics and Finance
Female
France - epidemiology
Health Surveys - methods
Humanities and Social Sciences
Humans
IADL
informal care
Internal Medicine
Male
need for care
opportunity cost method
Patient Care - economics
Patient Care - methods
Patient Care - standards
propensity score matching
proxy good method
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Abstract Objectives Dementia has a substantial effect on patients and their relatives, who have to cope with medical, social, and economic changes. In France, most elderly people with dementia live in the community and receive informal care, which has not been well characterized. Methods Using a sample of 4680 people aged 75 years and older collected in 2008 through a national comprehensive survey on health and disability, we compared the economic value of the care received by 513 elderly people with dementia to that received by a propensity score– matched set of older people without dementia. Results More than 85% of elderly people with dementia receive informal care; the estimation of its economic value ranges from €4.9 billion (proxy good method) to €6.7 billion (opportunity cost method) per year. Conclusions The informal care provided to people with dementia has substantial annual costs; further work should be done to examine the social and economic roles foregone as a result of this care.
ISSN:1098-3015
1524-4733
DOI:10.1016/j.jval.2015.01.002