Socio-economic Aspects of Alzheimer's Disease

Abstract

Social development, better living conditions and medical advances lead to the fact that more people have the opportunity to live longer than in the past. The aging population is a characteristic feature of demographic trends in developed countries. This trend is closely linked with the issue of increasing number of diseases in old age and increasing government expenditure on health and social care. The most frequently mentioned diseases in old age include dementia. The cause may lie in all kinds of diseases, the most common are Alzheimer's disease and cerebrovascular disease. Now the care of current 35 million patients with dementia costs over $ 600 billion per year, it is approximately one percent of global Gross Domestic Product. This review discusses the recent issues and questions in the area of social and economic aspects of Alzheimer's disease. It focuses in detail on the national strategies in the approach to Alzheimer's disease, the anticipated problems concerning the insufficient number of social workers and necessary expenses of state budgets in the future. The situation in the area of health insurance companies' expenditures is illustrated in the context of the analysis of long-term care systems, in the chosen countries within the European Union.

Treatment costs of Parkinson’s disease in Central Europe

“…Furthermore, international comparisons on the volume of provided care must be considered very carefully. These comparisons are usually based on expert estimation and they are not supported by reliable data (Maresova, Mohelska, Dolejs, & Kuca, 2015). Even a more complicated comparison among the other EU countries is in the area of social care (Klimova, Maresova, Valis, Hort, & Kuca, 2015) because in social services in comparison with healthcare, there is no regular disclosure of information, which would deal with the issue of dementia.…”

A Surgical Method to Improve the Homeostasis of CSF for the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease

“…Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an age-related dementia that represents a serious social problem in the aging population worldwide (Kandimalla et al, 2011, 2014; Marešová et al, 2015). This chronic degenerative disease of the brain is characterized clinically by progressive deterioration of memory and other cognitive domains, along with profound changes in personality and behavior (Dubois et al, 2015).…”

Drug discovery, development and delivery in Alzheimer’s disease

“…Despite an extraordinary scientific effort during the last decades, AD remains one of the great challenges in medicine, with enormous societal and economic impact: it is estimated that forty million people are currently affected worldwide, with a total economic burden exceeding 500 billion $ per year (3)(4)(5)(6). Notably, as aging is a key risk factor, numbers are anticipated to drastically increase during the next decades, as a consequence of the overall increment in average life expectancy (3)(4)(5). According to The Alzheimer's Association, between 2000 and 2013, deaths resulting from stroke, heart disease, and prostate cancer decreased by 10-20%, whereas deaths attributed to AD increased by 70%.…”