The Economics of Dementia

In the coming years, it is predicted that there will be a significant increase in the number of people living with dementia and consequently, the demand for health and social care services. Given the budget constraints facing health systems, it is anticipated that economic analysis will play an increasingly important role in informing decisions regarding the provision of services for people with dementia. However, compared with other conditions and diseases, research in dementia has been relatively limited. While in the past this may have been related to an assumption that dementia was a natural part of aging, there are features of dementia that make applying research methods particularly challenging. A number of economic methods have been applied to dementia, including cost-of-illness analysis and economic evaluation; however, methodological issues in this area persist. These include reaching a consensus on how best to measure and value informal care, how to capture the many impacts and costs of the condition as the disease progresses, and how to measure health outcomes. Addressing these existing methodological issues will help realize the potential of economic analysis in answering difficult questions around care for people with dementia.