@phdthesis{Michalowsky2016, author = {Bernhard Michalowsky}, title = {Cost of care of community-dwelling primary care patients screened positive for dementia in Germany - Results of the DelpHi-MV trial}, journal = {Krankheitskosten prim{\"a}r{\"a}rztlich versorgter Menschen mit Demenz in Deutschland - Ergebnisse der DelpHi-MV Studie}, url = {https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:gbv:9-002421-3}, year = {2016}, abstract = {Background: Demographic changes are leading to a rapid increase in the number and proportion of the elderly. This goes along with an increase of prevalence of age-associated illnesses, such as dementia. The prevalence of dementia is estimated to amount to 1.5 million in Germany. Up to three-quarter of the persons with dementia (PWD) were living in their own homes. In European countries, dementia is associated with substantial and increasing healthcare costs, which makes dementia one of the most expensive diseases in old age and a serious health care priority. Whereas analyses of total healthcare costs in dementia have been the focus of various cost-of-illness (COI) studies, so far little is known about several cost categories in detail. Firstly, detailed economic analyses of medication cost are currently still missing. Secondly, it is well known that dementia is under-diagnosed, but there is a lack of knowledge about the differences in resource utilization and its costs between dementia patients with and those without a formal dementia diagnosis. Finally, analyses that take the utilization and costs of professional formal and unpaid informal care as well as caregiver’s productivity losses into a consideration are currently missing. Objectives: (1) To determine medication cost, cost per drug and number of drugs taken and analyze their associated factors; to estimate the current price reduction of anti-dementia drugs due to implementation of low-priced generics. (2) To determine health care resource utilisation and costs of patients with a formal diagnosis and those without a formal diagnosis of dementia, and to analyse the association between having received a formal dementia diagnosis and health care costs (3) To determine the utilization and costs of formal and informal care for PwD, indirect costs because of productivity losses of caregivers and the associations between cost, socio-demographic and clinical variables. Methods: The present study is a cross-sectional analysis of health care resource utilization and health care cost of community-dwelling PWD in primary care. Analyses are based on primary data from the ongoing DelpHi-MV trial (Dementia: Life- and person-centered help in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany), a population-based, cluster-randomized, controlled intervention trial in the primary care setting (Clinical Trials gov. Identifier: NCT01401582). Eligible patients (older than 70 years, living at home) were screened in participating general practitioner practices for dementia using the DemTect. The utilization of healthcare resources was assessed within the baseline assessment at practitioner’s homes. Costs were calculated from the perspective of the statutory health insurance or the social perspective. Factors associated with healthcare cost were evaluated using multiple regression models. Results: (1) Medication cost and cost per drug were higher and the number of taken drugs lower in advanced stages of cognitive impairment. Prescription of anti-dementia generics could decrease overall medication cost by 28\%. Medication cost was associated with number of diagnoses, deficits in activities of daily living and age. Dementia severity was related to cost per drug and number of drugs taken. (2) Patients formally diagnosed with dementia were treated significantly more often by a neurologist, but less often by all other outpatient specialists, and received anti-dementia drugs and day care more often. Diagnosed patients underwent shorter and less frequent planned in-hospital treatments. Dementia diagnosis was significantly associated with higher costs of anti-dementia drug treatment, but significantly associated with less total medical care costs, which valuated to be € 5,123 compared, to € 5,565 for undiagnosed patients. (3) Formal care were utilized less (26.3\%) than informal care (85.1\%), resulting in a cost ratio of one to ten (1,646 €; 16,473 €, respectively). In total, 29\% of caregivers were employed, and every seventh (14.3\%) experienced productivity losses, which corresponded to 1,258 € annually. Whereas increasing deficits in daily living activities were associated with higher formal and higher informal costs, living alone was significantly associated with higher formal care costs and the employment of a caregiver was associated with lower informal care costs. Conclusion: (1) Medication cost increases with the number of diagnoses and growing deficits in activities of daily living and decreases with age. Severely cognitively impaired persons are treated with a small number of high-priced drugs, which could suggest inadequate medication of multimorbid persons. (2) There are no significant differences in total health care cost between diagnosed and undiagnosed patients. Dementia diagnosis is beneficial for receiving cost-intensive anti-dementia drug treatments, but is currently insufficient to ensure adequate non-medication treatment for community-dwelling patients. (3) Informal care contributes the most to total care costs. Living alone is a major cost driver for formal costs because of the lower availability of potential informal care. The availability of informal care is limited and productivity losses are increased when a caregiver is employed.}, language = {en} }