The costs of dementia in England

Raphael Wittenberg, Martin Knapp, Bo Hu, Adelina Comas-Herrera, Derek King, Amritpal Rehill, Cheng Shi, Sube Banerjee, Anita Patel, Carol Jagger and Andrew Kingston

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Objectives: This study measures the average per person and annual total costs of dementia in England in 2015. Methods/Design: Up-to-date data for England were drawn from multiple sources to identify prevalence of dementia by severity, patterns of health and social care service utilisation and their unit costs, levels of unpaid care and its economic impacts, and other costs of dementia. These data were used in a refined macrosimulation model to estimate annual per-person and aggregate costs of dementia. Results: There are around 690 000 people with dementia in England, of whom 565 000 receive unpaid care or community care or live in a care home. Total annual cost of dementia in England is estimated to be £24.2 billion in 2015, of which 42% (£10.1 billion) is attributable to unpaid care. Social care costs (£10.2 billion) are three times larger than health care costs (£3.8 billion). £6.2 billion of the total social care costs are met by users themselves and their families, with £4.0 billion (39.4%) funded by government. Total annual costs of mild, moderate, and severe dementia are £3.2 billion, £6.9 billion, and £14.1 billion, respectively. Average costs of mild, moderate, and severe dementia are £24 400, £27 450, and £46 050, respectively, per person per year. Conclusions: Dementia has huge economic impacts on people living with the illness, their carers, and society as a whole. Better support for people with dementia and their carers, as well as fair and efficient financing of social care services, are essential to address the current and future challenges of dementia.

Keywords: costs; cost if illness; dementia; England; health care; social care; unpaid care; UKRI fund; Wiley prepayment account (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E6 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 9 pages
Date: 2019-07-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Published in International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 1, July, 2019, 34(7), pp. 1095-1103. ISSN: 0885-6230

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:100500

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