Florina Cristescu
Public Health and Governance, Volume 14, Issue 3, 2016, pp. 204 - 226
https://doi.org/10.4467/20842627OZ.16.023.5892Objective: The main aim of the research was to investigate the costs of dementia in Romania based on the estimated average cost of each person with dementia in Bucharest.
Method: This was across-sectional, non-population based study, with a mix of “bottom-up” and “top-down” data collection methods, which adopted the Cost-of-Illness approach from a broad societal perspective. The study involved 31 carers of patients with dementia in two Bucharest clinics in 2013 and 2014: the PROMEMORIA Private Clinic and the “Sf. Luca” chronic disease hospital. Face-to-face individual interviews were conducted using a modified version of the Resource Utilisation in Dementia (RUD) questionnaire. The average direct and indirect costs of dementia per person in the study were estimated for the year 2013 and are presented for the three levels of disease severity – mild, moderate and severe.
Results: The mean carer age was 59.3 (SD = 13.3), with 77.4% of the participants being females. The average cost (direct and indirect) of dementia per person in the study ranged from 53,787 RON to 67,554 RON (depending on the hourly wage used for valuation of the caregivers’ time). Converted to the international dollar currency, using the purchasing power parity (PPP) of the US dollar in Romania in 2013, the average cost of dementia in the study accounted for between I$32,301 and I$40,583. The estimated total annual cost of dementia in Romania in 2013 was between I$9 bln and I$11 bln.