Abstract
Dementia is a major cause of dependency and disability among older persons, and imposes huge economic burdens. Only a few cost-of-illness studies for dementia have been carried out in middle and low-income countries.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to analyze costs of dementia in demented patients of a private clinic in Lima, Peru.Methods.We performed a retrospective, cohort, 3-month study by extracting information from medical records of demented patients to assess the use of both healthcare and non-healthcare resources. The total costs of the disease were broken down into direct (medical and social care costs) and indirect costs (informal care costs).Results.In 136 outpatients, we observed that while half of non-demented patients had total care costs of less than US$ 23 over three months, demented patients had costs of US$ 1500 or over (and more than US$ 1860 for frontotemporal dementia). In our study, the monthly cost of a demented patient (US$ 570) was 2.5 times higher than the minimum wage (legal minimum monthly wage in Peru for 2011: US$ 222.22).Conclusion.Dementia constitutes a socioeconomic problem even in developing countries, since patients involve high healthcare and non-healthcare costs, with the costs being especially high for the patient's family.
Highlights
The global prevalence of dementia for 2010 was estimated at 8.5% in the elderly aged 60 and over in Latin America (LA).1 According to projections, LA will experience a rapid increase in prevalence rates in the coming years.1 In the Andean region alone, an estimated 250,000 people were living with
We previously reported a prevalence of dementia of 6.85% among elderly aged 65 years or older from Lima’s urban community,2 a total of thirty thousand persons with dementia could be expected in Lima province alone
This study has shown that demented patients had much higher total healthcare and non-healthcare costs than non-demented elderly
Summary
The aim of this study was to analyze costs of dementia in demented patients of a private clinic in Lima, Peru
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