Memory Research Center, Department of Neurology, Hospital General Abel Zubizarreta, GCABA, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Int Psychogeriatr. 2011 May;23(4):554-61. doi: 10.1017/S1041610210002012. Epub 2010 Nov 3.
The economic cost of dementia is high and can be predicted by cognitive and neuropsychiatric profiles. The differential costs of the various subtypes of dementia are unknown in Argentina, and this study therefore aimed to compare these costs.
Patients with a diagnosis of dementia of Alzheimer-type (DAT), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and vascular dementia (VaD), and their primary caregivers, were evaluated between 2002 and 2008.
104 patients with dementia (DAT = 44, FTD = 34, VaD = 26) were screened and matched by age and educational level with 29 healthy subjects. Demographic variables showed no significant differences among dementia patients. The annual direct costs were US$4625 for DAT, US$4924 for FTD, and US$5112 for VaD (p > 0.05 between groups). In the post hoc analysis VaD showed higher hospitalization costs than DAT (p < 0.001). VaD exhibited lower medication costs than FTD (p < 0.001). DAT exhibited higher anti-dementia drug costs; FTD had higher psychotropic costs. In the multivariate analysis, depression, activities of daily living, and caregiver burden were correlated with direct costs (r2 = 0.76).
The different dementia types have different costs. Overall, costs increased with the presence of behavioral symptoms, depression and functional impairment of activities of daily living.
痴呆的经济成本很高，可以通过认知和神经精神特征来预测。在阿根廷，不同类型痴呆的差异成本尚不清楚，因此本研究旨在比较这些成本。
2002 年至 2008 年间，对阿尔茨海默病型痴呆（DAT）、额颞叶痴呆（FTD）和血管性痴呆（VaD）患者及其主要照顾者进行了评估。
共筛选出 104 例痴呆患者（DAT = 44 例，FTD = 34 例，VaD = 26 例），并按年龄和教育程度与 29 例健康对照进行了匹配。痴呆患者的人口统计学变量无显著差异。DAT、FTD 和 VaD 的年直接成本分别为 4625 美元、4924 美元和 5112 美元（组间无显著性差异）。事后分析显示 VaD 的住院费用高于 DAT（p < 0.001）。VaD 的药物费用低于 FTD（p < 0.001）。DAT 的抗痴呆药物费用较高；FTD 的精神药物费用较高。多元分析显示，抑郁、日常生活活动和照顾者负担与直接成本相关（r2 = 0.76）。
不同类型的痴呆具有不同的成本。总体而言，随着行为症状、抑郁和日常生活活动功能障碍的出现，成本会增加。
