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The personal cost of dementia care in Japan: A comparative analysis of residence types
Author(s) -
Nakabe Takayo,
Sasaki Noriko,
Uematsu Hironori,
Kunisawa Susumu,
Wimo Anders,
Imanaka Yuichi
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.4916
Subject(s) - residence , dementia , gerontology , personal care , medicine , demography , family medicine , sociology , disease , pathology
Objective We aimed to quantify the personal economic burden of dementia care in Japan according to residence type. Methods A cross‐sectional online survey was conducted on 3841 caregivers of people with dementia. An opportunity cost approach was used to calculate informal care costs. All costs and the observed/expected (OE) ratio of costs were adjusted using patient sex, age, and care‐needs levels, and compared among the residence types. Results The mean daily informal care time was 8.2 hours, and the mean monthly informal care costs for community‐dwelling people with dementia were US$1559. The OE ratio for informal care costs in community‐dwelling patients was higher than in institutionalized patients. Conclusion The inclusion of informal care costs reduced the differences in total personal costs among the residence types. The economic burden of informal care should be considered when quantifying dementia care costs.