Comparison of informal care time and costs in different age-related dementias: a review.

Nadège Costa,Michel Lamure,Sandrine Andrieu,Laurent Molinier,Valérie Garnault,Sophie Gillette-Guyonnet,Hélène Derumeaux-Burel,Bruno Vellas,Thomas Rapp,Laura Ferlicoq,Alain Grand

doi:10.1155/2013/852368

Abstract

Objectives. Age-related dementia is a progressive degenerative brain syndrome whose prevalence increases with age. Dementias cause a substantial burden on society and on families who provide informal care. This study aims to review the relevant papers to compare informal care time and costs in different dementias. Methods. A bibliographic search was performed on an international medical literature database (MEDLINE). All studies which assessed the social economic burden of different dementias were selected. Informal care time and costs were analyzed in three care settings by disease stages. Results. 21 studies met our criteria. Mean informal care time was 55.73 h per week for Alzheimer disease and 15.8 h per week for Parkinson disease (P = 0.0076), and the associated mean annual informal costs were $17,492 versus $3,284, respectively (P = 0.0393). Conclusion. There is a lack of data about informal care time and costs among other dementias than AD or PD. Globally, AD is the most costly in terms of informal care costs than PD, $17,492 versus $3,284, respectively.

Highlights

Dementia is a collective name for progressive degenerative brain syndromes which affect memory, thinking, behavior, and emotion
Informal care time and costs represent a greater burden in Alzheimer disease (AD) than in Parkinson disease (PD) (55.73 h/week versus 15.80 h/week, resp., and US$17,492 versus US$3,284 resp.)
Ten studies included several activities type as ADL, IADL, and supervision while three included only time spent on ADL/ IADL and underestimate informal care hours. e difficulty lies in the measurement of “joint production” which is a concept introduced by Juster and Stafford and which consists in combining informal care with nonmarket activities at the same time [43]

Summary

Introduction

Dementia is a collective name for progressive degenerative brain syndromes which affect memory, thinking, behavior, and emotion. Dementia is one of the major causes of disability and dependence among older people worldwide. It is overwhelming for the people who suffer from it and for their caregivers and families. Informal care can be de ned as unpaid care provided to parents or friends who present functional or/and cognitive disability [2]. This de nition can be discussed and the notion of “unpaid.” According to van den Berg et al, informal caregivers may receive some form of payment. This de nition can be discussed and the notion of “unpaid.” According to van den Berg et al, informal caregivers may receive some form of payment. ey consider being informal care “when the caregiver would not want to care for someone outside of his social environment for a similar wage” [3]. us, informal care can be de ned as “nearly” unpaid care provided to someone inside the social environment of informal caregiver. e burden of informal care can be the point to an early placement in institution which leads to an increase of total costs [4, 5]

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