1. Apathy in patients with Alzheimer's disease is a cost-driving factor
- Author
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Christopher Kruse, Franziska Maier, Annika Spottke, Jan‐Philipp Bach, Claudia Bartels, Katharina Buerger, Andreas Fellgiebel, Klaus Fliessbach, Lutz Frölich, Lucrezia Hausner, Martin Hellmich, Stefan Klöppel, Arne Klostermann, Johannes Kornhuber, Christoph Laske, Oliver Peters, Josef Priller, Tanja Richter‐Schmidinger, Anja Schneider, Kija Shah‐Hosseini, Stefan Teipel, Christine A. F. von Arnim, Jens Wiltfang, Hendrik van der Wurp, Richard Dodel, and Frank Jessen
- Subjects
Epidemiology ,Health Policy ,Medizin ,cost of illness ,apathy ,610 Medicine & health ,economics ,Alzheimer's disease ,resource use ,Psychiatry and Mental health ,Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience ,Developmental Neuroscience ,ddc:610 ,Neurology (clinical) ,Geriatrics and Gerontology ,dementia - Abstract
BACKGROUND: Apathy is the most frequent neuropsychiatric symptom in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer's type (DAT). We analyzed the influence of apathy on the resource use of DAT patients and their caregivers.METHODS: Included were baseline data of 107 DAT patients from a randomized clinical trial on apathy treatment. The Resource Utilization in Dementia (RUD) instrument assessed costs over a 1-month period prior to baseline. Cost predictors were determined via a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO).RESULTS: On average, total monthly costs were €3070, of which €2711 accounted for caregivers' and €359 for patients' costs. An increase of one point in the Apathy Evaluation Scale resulted in a 4.1% increase in total costs.DISCUSSION: Apathy is a significant cost driving factor for total costs in mild to moderate DAT. Effective treatment of apathy might be associated with reduced overall costs in DAT.
- Published
- 2023