Informal care for people with dementia in Europe.

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Public Health
• Health Economics

Background:

• Estimates for informal care are essential for health-economic models but are currently lacking.
• Informal care plays a significant role in supporting individuals with dementia.
• Understanding the relationship between dementia symptoms and care time is vital for resource allocation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To estimate the association between informal care time and dementia symptoms in European populations.
• To provide data for health-economic models to better understand the costs associated with dementia care.
• To quantify the impact of disease severity on the need for informal care.

Main Methods:

• Secondary analysis of 13,529 observations from 5,369 individuals across 9 European studies.
• Inclusion of community-dwelling persons with dementia.
• Application of a mixed regression model to assess time spent on activities of daily living, considering disease severity and demographics.

Main Results:

• Informal care time increased with dementia severity: 0.5h (moderate) and 1.3h (severe) higher than mild cognitive impairment.
• Functional disability showed a corresponding increase in care time: 1.2h (moderate) and 2.7h (severe).
• Behavioral symptoms also correlated with increased care time: 0.3h (moderate) and 0.6h (severe).

Conclusions:

• The study provides valuable estimates for informal care time associated with dementia symptoms in Europe.
• These estimates are applicable to both single- and multi-domain health-economic models.
• The findings can inform policy and resource planning for dementia care across European settings.