Dementia Care in 9 OECD Countries: A Comparative Analysis

Pierre Moïse, Michael Schwarzinger and Myung-Yong Um

No 13, OECD Health Working Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: Dementia and its most common manifestation, Alzheimer’s disease, is a complex disorder that afflicts primarily the elderly, affecting an estimated 10 million people in OECD member countries. The complexity of the disease makes treating dementia extremely difficult, involving a wide variety of social and health care interventions. Typically, these two aspects of dementia care are examined separately. This paper adopts a conceptual model that examines both types of interventions and how they interact along the dementia care continuum. There are no effective health care treatments for stopping dementia, which is why the social care aspect plays an important role in treating the disease, with family members an integral part of this process. This paper shows that programs designed to help alleviate the burden of family members caring for a relative with dementia can have positive health benefits to both patient and family. In particular, the use of group-living, where dementia ... La démence et la maladie d’Alzheimer, sa manifestation la plus courante, sont des troubles complexes qui touchent principalement les personnes âgées. D’après les estimations, elles concernent quelque 10 millions d’individus dans les pays de l’OCDE. La complexité de ces pathologies rend extrêmement difficile toute méthode de soins et nécessite une prise en charge à la fois sociale et médicale. Le plus souvent, ces deux aspects de la prise en charge de la démence sont examinés séparément. La logique conceptuelle adoptée dans le présent document en propose une analyse globale et étudie leur interaction tout au long du continuum de soins. Il n’existe aucun traitement efficace permettant d’arrêter la progression de la démence ; c’est la raison pour laquelle l’entourage familial joue un rôle fondamental dans sa prise en charge, dont il fait partie intégrante. Le présent document montre que les programmes visant à alléger le fardeau des personnes s’occupant d’un proche atteint de ...

JEL-codes: I10 I18 I19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-07-28
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
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