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Objectives: The aim of this analysis was to determine the direct costs for patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) based on data supplied by a large German statutory health insurance (BARMER). Focus of the present evaluation is the exposure of total direct costs, survival rates and the types of care distribution of patients with AD., Methods: The analysis was based on anonymised data of patients with Alzheimer's disease who were insured by a large German statutory health insurance (Barmer Ersatzkasse-BEK) in 2005 over 12 months (n = 35.684). The study population was classified into three treatment groups: patients who received memantine and no other antidementia drugs, psychotropic drugs or sedatives/hypnotics (memantine group); patients who neither received memantine nor other antidementia drugs but psychotropic drugs and/or sedatives/hypnotics (PHS group); and patients who received no antidementia drugs and no psychotropic drugs or sedatives/hypnotics (no AT group). A Markov model was designed to assess the costs of each treatment group depending on the type of care over a 5-year period., Results: The results obtained for the PHS group were the following: after 5 years, 25.1% were in inpatient health care, 1.1% in partial inpatient care, 5.4% in outpatient care, and 64.5% of patients died. Only 3.9% did not require care. On average, direct costs to the amount of 7.948 € incurred per patient and year and 13.099 € per surviving patient. In the group without pharmacotherapy, 20.6% were in inpatient care, 0.3% in partial inpatient care, 12.8% in outpatient care, and 52.5% of the patients died. For 13.8% of the patients, care was not necessary. The annual costs amounted to 6.760 € per patient and 9.926 € per surviving patient. The results obtained for the memantine group were more beneficial: annual costs per patient amounted to 6.100 € and to 8.376 € per surviving patient., Conclusions: The results demonstrate that non-antidementive therapy for Alzheimer's disease causes higher costs especially for care. The memantine group proved to be superior compared to PHS group and no AT group, despite higher costs in the specific drug category.

Background: In most elderly people, the final-terminal-phase of life is characterized by permanent dependency and a complete inability to perform activities of daily living. Treatment targets usually switch from rehabilitation to palliation. However, the prevalence of the clinical judgment "last phase of life" and its association with in-hospital death is unknown in geriatric patients., Patients and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed GEMIDAS data from two geriatric units. Patients without cancer and an in-hospital stay of at least 1 week were included in our study. Prevalence of the terminal phase of life was clinically assessed according to the proposals made by M. Gillick. This clinical judgment was pronounced by the geriatric team after a stay in the hospital of at least 1 week. The clinical judgment took into account all available assessment parameters, as well as the impact of a geriatric treatment trial. In addition, the association between the clinical judgment and the risk of in-hospital mortality was analyzed., Results: Records from 2,433 (56%) patients in hospital A and from 1,912 (44%) patients in hospital B were analyzed. The frequency of a terminal phase of life was 30% and 9% (p<0.01), respectively. The frequency depended on the manner of admission to the hospital. In both hospitals, mortality was significantly higher in terminal patients (27% and 37%) than in other patients (0-8% and 0-6%). In both hospitals, the risk of in-hospital mortality was significantly associated with the clinical judgment (OR 3.1 and 2.7), heart failure (OR 2.2 and 2.1), and dementia (OR 2.0 and 1.8). Age, residency in a nursing home, and the Barthel Index on admission were all without relevant impact., Conclusion: The frequency of the clinical construct "terminal phase of life" varies in geriatric units between 9% and 30%. This clinical construct is significantly associated with increased in-hospital mortality. Therefore, this construct possesses external validity. Further studies are needed in order to assess the significance of such a clinical judgment, the associations with clinical burdens of symptoms, and the supply structure required to cover the needs of patients and their families.

Many studies have shown that the number of new dementia diagnoses in Germany is increasing yearly. Thus, two social tasks are important: the adequate support and care of dementia patients, now and in the future, as well as covering the costs thereof. The survival period of dementia patients has a central meaning - especially for health policy planning. Therefore, the question of our 8-year follow-up study was whether living conditions affect the survival period of dementia patients? A total of 173 dementia outpatients (ICD-10 numbers F00 and F01) were screened for survival time and living conditions. For deceased patients, a close reference person was interviewed, and the exact date of death was recorded. For statistical evaluation, the Cox proportional hazard model was used and dying risks were determined. Our investigation shows that a clear difference exists in the survival period of dementia patients, according to whether they have lived at home or in a senior citizen's home. Patients in senior citizen's homes had a higher relative dying risk of around 53.1% (hazard ratio), than for those cared for at home (p=0.047). Prospective research is needed to gain more evidence about the impact of social factors, e.g., living conditions, on the survival time of demented patients.

Purpose: The aim of this analysis was to generate cost data of provider services, drug acquisition, hospitalization, nursing care services, and adjuvants for patients with Alzheimer's disease, as well as to describe the distribution and development of care levels., Material and Methods: The analysis is based on anonymized data of patients with Alzheimer's disease who were insured by a large German statutory health insurance (Barmer Krankenkasse [BARMER]) in 2005 (n = 48,322). The study population was classified into three treatment groups: patients, who received memantine and no other antidementives, psychotropic drugs or hypnotics/sedatives (memantine group); patients who neither received memantine nor other antidementives, but psychotropic drugs and hypnotics/ sedatives (PHS group); and patients who received no antidementives or symptomatic therapy at all ("no dementia-specific AM"). Costs were fully assessed for patients in each treatment group and correlated with the care level., Results: In the memantine group, fewer patients needed care than in the other two groups. Total costs per patient averaged 7,028 Euros in the memantine group, 13,549 Euros in the PHS group, and 8,817 Euros in the group with no specific medication. Higher costs in the PHS group and in the group without drug treatment were mainly caused by a considerably higher rate of patients in need of care, of which nursing care made up the highest proportion. Fewer costs for medical treatment could not compensate the additional expenditures for nursing care. Patients in the PHS group had the highest average costs in all cost categories except for specific drug cost., Conclusion: The results demonstrate that non-antidementive therapy for Alzheimer's disease causes higher costs especially in nursing care. The memantine group proved superior even though it had the highest costs in the specific drug category.

Objective: Evaluation of the predictive power of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) for survival analyses of dementia patients., Methods: In an 8-year follow-up study for 145 dementia outpatients the survival and relative death risks (hazard ratios) were calculated with Kaplan Meier and Cox-regression analyses., Results: Following Cox-regression the relative death risk increases by 36.2 % per severity level of dementia (mild / moderate / severe), p = 0.023. Per single MMSE point lost, the relative death risk rises by 4.1 % (p = 0.005). Kaplan Meier analysis supports the result., Conclusions: MMSE scores may in fact be used for dementia survival prognoses in counseling family and professional caregivers of dementia patients, but also for socioeconomic management of the increasing dementia burden for society.

Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia still may be looked upon as distinct nosologic entities, representing the two main etiologic categories of senile dementia. However, rather recent findings suggest a comorbidity of neurodegenerative and ischemic pathology in a majority of dementia cases in later life. The effect of the vascular pathology on the survival time was studied in 173 dementia outpatients. For 147 patients with complete datasets, we were able to gain information concerning their survival time. As an indicator of cerebrovascular morbidity the 18-point ischemic scale of Hachinski (HIS) was correlated with the survival time. Thus, we did not use the HIS for its original purpose to differentiate between degenerative and vascular dementia, but to roughly evaluate the cerebrovascular impact in a continuum model. Using the Cox model we calculated mortality risks for every point on the HIS. We found a Cox hazard ratio of 1.038 for each supplementary point on the HIS, which equals a 3.8% higher relative mortality risk. The result misses significance (p=0.092), but indicates a clear tendency towards a shortening of survival time by vascular comorbidity. Future prospective studies should integrate brain imaging to further corroborate our findings.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate whether mortality is higher for individuals suffering from Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI)., Methods: A community sample of 1,045 dementia-free individuals aged 75 years and over was examined using neuropsychological tests over a 4.5-year period. Data were analyzed with the Cox proportional hazards model after having been adjusted for age, gender, and incident dementia., Results: Association between MCI and mortality was examined subject to varied diagnostic criteria of MCI. We found an increased risk of death that was about 1.5 times higher for individuals with MCI when a cognitive performance of more than 1.5 standard deviation below the mean of age- and education-matched controls was required and the criterion of a cognitive complaint was excluded. Males were at about a 40% increased risk of death. Risk also increased with age by about 8% per year. Incident dementia showed a significant influence on mortality only if it became manifest by 1.5 years after the baseline measurement (follow-up 1)., Conclusion: MCI is associated with increased mortality when certain diagnostic criteria are applied., ((c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Objective: The application of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitors seems to be constrained in the German health care system. We investigate the cost-effectiveness of the AChE inhibitor Galantamine for patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a German context., Method: A Markov model as the decision theoretic framework is applied to compare two treatment scenarios (Placebo vs. Galantamine). The incremental cost-utility ratio based on different sources of data is calculated as decision criteria., Results: In the base case, the application of the AChE inhibitor Galantamine is a dominant scenario with cost savings along with gained quality adjusted life years. It is not cost saving from the perspective of third party payers in Germany. Results are sensitive regarding assumptions about efficacy of the drug and mortality in the analysed cohort., Conclusion: The German reimbursement system places an obstacle to the application of Galantamine. Further research is needed to tackle uncertainties in the model.

Neuropathological studies may contribute to the discovery of central nervous system complications after heart surgery and thus help to reduce the incidence of postoperative neurological or cognitive disturbances. We examined the brains of 262 such patients operated for coronary bypass, valve replacement, or heart transplantation. Circulatory disturbances (macro- and microhemorrhages, infarcts, subarachnoid hemorrhages, and hypoxemic brain damage) were present in 128 cases (49%), as the cause of death in 33 cases (12.6%). The infarcts were caused by local arteriosclerosis of brain arteries, arterial emboli originating from the operative sites or myocardial infarctions, or by fat emboli, foreign body emboli or megakaryocytic capillary emboli in rare cases. Inflammatory disturbances were present in 17 cases and consisted of fungal or bacterial septicopyemic changes (12) or of glial nodules (5) as the substrate of a viral or autoimmunencephalitis (Bickerstaff). An incidental finding was Alzheimer's disease in 37 cases (14% of the material) of elderly patients, often associated with cerebral amyloid angiopathy but not as cause of death or cause of macroscopic brain hemorrhage. Since we have conducted an autopsy study, there is a limitation to transfer the documented changes to the total group of post-cardiac surgery patients with neurologic and cognitive deficits. Contrary to some previous reports, histologically overt microembolic phenomena do not seem to play a major role in our material. On the other hand, careful scrutiny revealed non-fatal white matter microhemorrhages of varying frequency in the different groups, especially after valve operations. These as well as the occasional glial nodules, after resorption and microscarring, could well be the cause of slight neurologic and cognitive impairments.

Objective: This study examines the relevance of variables suspected to influence mortality in Alzheimer's disease (AD)., Methods: 172 subjects with AD recruited through a family study were followed up for a mean of 4.7 +/- 2.6 years. Their survival was compared with that of matched control subjects using Kaplan-Meier and log-rank statistics. Variables determining mortality were examined with the Cox proportional hazards model., Results: Survival in subjects with AD depended on age, the severity of cognitive decline and on the incidence of hospitalisation. Gender, the duration of the illness, the velocity of cognitive decline, the allele E4 of the apolipoprotein E genotype and the presence of other lifetime psychiatric diagnoses did not influence mortality., Conclusion: Mortality in AD depended mainly on the subjects' age and the severity of the disorder., (Copyright 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel)

Objective: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is under-recognized in Germany. No data on the number of patients suffering from this condition in Germany are available at present. We were interested in the proportion of DLB in the postmortems of demented inpatients in the care of a psychogeriatric service., Design: In a retrospective study we examined consecutive postmortems of inpatients who died in one mental hospital., Setting: A suburban and rural old age psychiatry service in Germany., Patients: 103 consecutive postmortems had been performed from 9/1987 to 6/1995. Fifty-nine (57.3%) of all cases warranted the clinical diagnosis of dementia (DSM-III-R)., Measures: The causes of dementia were examined histologically. Lewy bodies (LBs) were detected with ubiquitin immunohistochemistry., Results: DLB was the third most frequent cause of dementia (13.6% of demented), after dementia of Alzheimer's type (DAT) (35.6%) and mixed DAT and vascular dementia (15.3%), but ahead of 'pure' vascular dementia (MID). The DLB group showed a male preponderance compared with the DAT, MID and mixed group of our series. The DLB patients died younger than the DAT patients. The differences, however, were not statistically significant. All DLB cases showed neurofibrillary and amyloid pathology sufficient to warrant an additional diagnosis of DAT. Cases with 'pure' LB pathology had not been detected in our series., Conclusions: Our results indicate that by using appropriate methods, ie ubiquitin immunohistochemistry, a considerable number of DLB cases can be detected in postmortems of demented patients from German mental hospitals.

The increasing proportion of elderly people in the population is presenting politics, society and also medicine with significant new challenges. Gerontology and geriatrics play a role in every area of preventive and curative medicine. Since the life expectancy of women is about 8 years longer than that of men and the greater portion of an aging society will be female, gynaecology takes on special significance. The necessity of developing old-age gynaecology becomes more and more urgent, particularly in view of the fact that postmenopausal women still have more than one third of their lives before them, a period which they would like to and should spend in good mental, psychological and physical condition. Postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy has been remarkably successful in treating climateric complaints and in positively affecting the entire organism. The ability of women to virtually avert later consequences of the hormone deficiency, including osteoporosis-induced fractures, heart attacks and strokes, by means of long-term hormone replacement is one of the great achievements of our time. Furthermore, the importance of hormone replacement therapy in the possible reduction of certain types of genital cancer, as endometrial and ovarial carcinoma, cannot be overstated. Gynaecology has taken a great step toward enabling older women to spend this third stage of their lives free of unnecessary disease or suffering. There is a consensus in literature and among medical experts today that the advantages of estrogen replacement during and following menopause have been proven and are to be highly regarded. The advantages and risks of hormone therapy will be explored from the special standpoint of morbidity and mortality ratings, particularly for the disease patterns of osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, heart attack, stroke, as well as breast, endometrial, ovarial and colon cancer. For insurance medicine, these aspects are of paramount significance. Quantification with regard to morbidity and mortality statistics is a challenge that will have to be faced in the years to come.

Probability of survival was investigated in a sample of 90 patients with Alzheimer's disease of mild to moderate severity over a period of 36 months. It showed a decline of approximately 10 per cent per year of observation. This is equivalent to an excess mortality of 21 as compared with the age-matched population. The estimated survival rate was analysed with regard to the influence of sex, and of age and severity of cognitive impairment at the initial examination. The most powerful predictor for a reduced probability of survival was the degree of cognitive impairment at study entry.

As part of a survey conducted in six general-hospital departments of internal medicine, in the neighbouring cities of Mannheim and Ludwigshafen (total pop. 470,000), 626 patients in the age range 65 to 80 years, all admitted from private addresses, were screened by means of a standardized questionnaire (Cognitive and Affective Screening of the Elderly--'CASE'). All patients whose scores indicated possible mental abnormality, together with a proportion of those having normal scores, were then examined in greater detail, using the Clinical Psychiatric Interview. Following correction, the screening results indicated a frequency of 30.2% for clinically significant psychiatric disturbance, made up of 9.1% with organic mental disorders and 21.1% with functional mental illness only. These rates are considerably higher than could be expected on the basis of a field study of the background population. One year after hospital discharge, the numbers of deaths and of admissions to long-stay care were established for the whole sample, and in addition, individually matched sub-samples of 100 mentally ill and 100 mentally normal patients were reinvestigated. A second follow-up of the matched sub-samples was undertaken after a further interval of 5.6 years on average. The results of follow-up show that 75% of the identified cases ran a chronic or recurring course, while only a small proportion proved to be transient reactions to physical illness or hospital admission. In general, the psychiatrically ill patients had a relatively unfavourable outcome, even after the effects of age, physical disability and other relevant variables had been controlled for. When compared with the matched group of mentally normal patients, they manifested a 43% excess of mortality, and an increase of 157% in the risk for having to be admitted to long-stay care.