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American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias logoLink to American Journal of Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias
. 2004 Sep-Oct;19(5):299–308. doi: 10.1177/153331750401900507

Variation in cost of informal caregiving and formal-service use for people with Alzheimer's desease

Brooke S Harrow 1, Diane F Mahoney 2, Aaron B Mendelsohn 3, Marcia G Ory 4, David W Coon 5, Steven H Belle 6, Linda O Nichols 7
PMCID: PMC10833892  PMID: 15553986

Abstract

This study used a geographically diverse sample to estimate the total cost of informal care and formal services for community-residing Alzheimer's disease (AD) care recipients. Baseline data were used for 1200 family caregivers from the Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer's Caregiver Health (REACH) study, a multisite intervention trial. The replacement-wage-rate approach estimated informal cost. Formal services were assigned a cost based on secondary sources. Annual cost per care recipient amounted to $23,436 for informal care and $8,064 for formal services. Variation in informal cost was almost entirely due to instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs) assistance. Cross-site differences in cost persisted after controlling for caregiver and care-recipient characteristics. Geographic variation may suggest regional preferences or ethnic/cultural values. Further study is needed to determine whether this reflects differences in access or availability or how including a control group for care recipients with nondementia diagnoses might have affected these findings.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease, dementia, care recipient, geographic variation, economic burden

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Contributor Information

Brooke S. Harrow, College of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts.

Diane F. Mahoney, HRCA Research and Training Institute, Hebrew Rehabilitation Center for Aged, Boston, Massachusetts.

Aaron B. Mendelsohn, Office of Drug Safety, Division of Surveillance, Research and Communication Support, Food and Drug Administration, Rockville, Maryland.

Marcia G. Ory, School of Rural Public Health, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas.

David W. Coon, Goldman Research Center, Goldman Institute on Aging, San Francisco, California.

Steven H. Belle, Epidemiology Data Center, Department of Epidemiology, Graduate School of Public Health, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Linda O. Nichols, Veterans Affairs Medical Center Memphis, Tennessee.

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