Challenges moving forward with economic evaluations of exercise intervention strategies aimed at combating cognitive impairment and dementia.

The economic burden of cognitive impairment and dementia cannot be ignored. In 2000, dementia was the third most costly health condition to care for in the United States, with annual costs estimated at $100 billion (in 1997 US prices). Another study calculated that the mean annual costs for dementia care is at 28,000 per patient.3 The direct costs in the UK of Alzheimer’s disease were estimated at £23 billion annually.4 Clearly, the cost of care for dementia is extremely high, and any strategies that delay the onset and or slow the progression of cognitive decline and dementia can have enormous societal return in terms of