Health care costs of people referred to an aged care assessment team: the effect of cognitive impairment

The aim of this study was to determine the effect cognitive impairment has on direct and indirect costs to elderly people, their carers and the community over one year, by following prospectively a cohort of elderly people referred to an aged care assessment team. The 78 subjects were drawn from a r...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Australian and New Zealand journal of public health 1997-06, Vol.21 (3), p.311-316
Main Authors: LoGiudice, Dina, Waltrowicz, Wendy, Ames, David, Brown, Kaye, Burrows, Colin, Flicker, Leon
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Alzheimer's disease
Caregiver burden
Caregivers
Case-Control Studies
Cognition
Cognition Disorders - diagnosis
Cognition Disorders - economics
Cognitive ability
Community services
Costs
Dementia
Disability
Elder care
Evaluation
Female
Geriatric Assessment
Geriatrics
Health Care Costs
Health care expenditures
Health services
Health Services for the Aged - economics
Health Services Research
Hospitals
Humans
Impairment
Male
Mental health services
Morbidity
Older people
Outcome Assessment (Health Care)
Pilot projects
Prospective Studies
Psychiatry
Public health
Referral and Consultation - economics
Residential care
Residential communities
Residential institutions
Teams
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Summary:The aim of this study was to determine the effect cognitive impairment has on direct and indirect costs to elderly people, their carers and the community over one year, by following prospectively a cohort of elderly people referred to an aged care assessment team. The 78 subjects were drawn from a random sample of people referred to the NorthWest Hospital team, and validated tools were used to assess their cognitive state. Outcome measures included total costs of community services, residential care, hospital bed use, carer burden and psychological morbidity. A comparison of outcome measures was made between those with cognitive impairment and those without. Use of community services and hospital beds was high overall. Those with cognitive impairment were substantially greater users of residential care, accounting for the higher expenditure in this group. Psychological morbidity and burden remain high in carers of those with cognitive impairment despite a high rate of institutionalisation in this group. The total costs for those referred to aged care assessment teams with cognitive impairment are double those seen for those with normal cognition.
ISSN:1326-0200
1753-6405
DOI:10.1111/j.1467-842X.1997.tb01705.x