Costs of diagnosing dementia: results from SveDem, the Swedish Dementia Registry

Abstract

The SveDem database offers valuable information on the diagnostic procedures for dementia in daily clinical practice. The differences between PC and SC in diagnostic costs reflect national guidelines. The age effect needs to be studied more.

[P1–592]: Cost of Diagnosing Dementia in a German Memory Clinic

“…The cost of a true dementia case (nondementia case) was 1134 € (897 €). These costs compare with the slightly higher costs reported in two previous studies that amounted to 1334 € and 1298 €, respectively, for diagnosing a true dementia case and 1115 € per patient with suspected dementia at a specialized care level [24,25]. Jedenius et al [25] evaluated the total costs associated with diagnosing dementia diseases from the beginning of the diagnostic process to the time when a dementia diagnosis was established or rejected using a prospective time-related and resourcerelated study, which is comparable to the methods used in our analysis.…”

“…A possible explanation could be that, in older patients, a decision must be made between the strain and stress imposed by the diagnostic procedure and a precise diagnosis. Because of the possibility of drugrelated problems in older age, it is therefore possible that these patients were less likely to be treated with antidementia drugs, meaning that the distinction between Alzheimer's disease and other dementia disorders may be regarded as less important [24]. In addition, older patients are more comorbid, which often results in polypharmacy.…”

“…The severity of cognitive impairment was assessed using the MMSE [14,15]. Based on the suggestions for dementia severity grading in Alzheimer's disease according to the German S-3 guideline, we categorized participants into one of four groups of cognitive impairment: without (MMSE score ≥ 27), mild (MMSE score [20][21][22][23][24][25][26], moderate (MMSE score [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19], and severe (MMSE score 0-9) [13]. Because of a small number of patients with moderate to severe cognitive impairment, these two categories were collapsed into one.…”

Benchmarking biomarker‐based criteria for Alzheimer's disease: Data from the Swedish Dementia Registry, SveDem

“…It is not known whether the EOAD patients in the study have sporadic or familial AD, but among EOAD, autosomal dominant transmission is only apparent in around 10% of the cases [12]. The diagnostics in SveDem have been described in detail before [13,14]. Most of the patients in the study were diagnosed at memory clinics; however, 4.7% were diagnosed at specialized primary health care units.…”

The Use of MRI, CT and Lumbar Puncture in Dementia Diagnostics: Data from the SveDem Registry

“…Recently, Wimo et al [32] studied the cost of diagnostic dementia workup in Sweden using the SveDem database. In general, the cost of the basic dementia workup, which includes a CT scan, and which is often performed in primary care, was estimated at SEK 6,777 while the cost for the extended workup including MRI and LP, commonly performed in specialist care, was estimated at SEK 11,682 (EUR 1 = SEK 9, and USD 1 = SEK 7 in 2010).…”