[The cost of severe dementia]

Abstract

The aim of the present article is to analyse the methodological difficulties to assess the economic cost of severe dementia from the available data, and the shortcomings of an exclusively economic approach. It is very difficult to provide a reliable account of the cost of severe dementia, when ignoring the initial assessment of the severity and the socio-economic context of the care given to demented persons. When assessing the cost of severe dementia, one needs to know who are the affected individuals, and what medical care they are given - whether at home or inside an institution. While the direct cost can be easily assessed, the indirect cost is more difficult to calculate, and particularly the productivity loss for the caring persons, when they are in occupational activity. Setting up reliable indicators for the cost of dementia is a long process, which needs a clear definition of the target population of the measurement.