Burden of illness among commercially insured patients with Alzheimer's disease

The purpose of this study was to examine the direct costs of care for patients newly diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD) by using retrospective healthcare claims data.

Patients aged 65 years or older with >or=1 claims containing a listed diagnosis of AD between January 1999 and November 2003 were selected. The first observed AD claim was deemed the index date. Control patients with no evidence of AD or dementia also were identified. Patients had a 12-month pre-index period and minimum 30-day follow-up. AD patients were matched to control patients on the basis of age, gender, and follow-up duration. Annualized utilization and costs were calculated; generalized linear models (GLM) were undertaken, controlling for demographic and clinical characteristics. Analyses focused on differences in costs among AD patients and controls.

The average age of AD and control patients was 82 years; 38% were men (n = 2,475 AD; 4,950 controls). Average total costs for AD patients were more than five-fold higher compared with controls ($28,263 vs $5,880; P < .001), driven primarily by inpatient costs. Total costs were significantly higher (P < .001) for AD patients in GLM modeling, with diagnosis group (AD vs control) as the most important predictor. Adjusted annual costs per patient were also five-fold higher ($21,150 vs $4,053 for AD vs control, respectively) during the follow-up period.

The annual economic burden of AD to third-party payers is more substantial than previously estimated ($3,805 to $8,200).