Alzheimer's disease: The strength of association of costs with different measures of disease severity

摘要: Objective: To identify Alzheimer's disease (AD) severity measures for use in cost-effectiveness models that effectively capture the impact of AD on costs. Methods: A review literature and data abstraction from papers present 1) mean costs (direct, indirect, or total) by severity, defined using measure cognition, functional status, behavior; and/or 2) results regression analyses estimate strength association between severity. Results: All reviewed showed total increase with regardless severity-measurement method. The relative difference patients severe compared to those moderate disease, mild was fairly consistent across studies, suggesting any disease-severity may be used broadly categorize cost. However, when analysis included multiple measures, independent associations were noted different measures. Cognitive status consistently associated direct costs, whereas behavioral indirect caregiver hours. Conclusions: Either multidimensional a single measure, behavior are needed models.