Indirect cost with dementia: A Brazilian study

Costs with dementia have been the focus of research around the world and indirect costs to the caregiver appear in the literature as responsible for the greatest impact. In Latin American (LA) studies, indirect costs with dementia range from 60% to 75% of family income. Objective To present preliminary results of the study "Description of the methods and cost analysis with dementia" currently being conducted at the Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology Unit of Hospital de Clínicas of University of São Paulo - HC-FMUSP. Methods A cross-sectional study which, to date, includes interviews of 93 primary caregivers. The research protocol includes a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Functional Assessment Staging (FAST) scale, the Burden Interview (Zarit), an economic classification scale, and the Resource Utilization in Dementia (RUD) scale. Results Monthly indirect costs were US$ 1,122.40, US$ 1,508.90 and US$ 1,644.70 stratified into mild, moderate and severe dementia, respectively. The projected annual indirect costs were US$ 13,468.80, US$ 18,106.80 and US$ 19,736.40, representing 69 to 169% of family income. Conclusion This small sample showed that the impact of indirect costs with dementia in Brazil may be higher than that reported in other Latin American (LA) studies. These initial results may represent an important contribution for further research on costs with dementia in LA.