“Four Dementia Care Interventions Without Medication Saving Costs, Reducing Nursing Home Admissions, and Enhancing Quality of Life: A Computer Model Study by the Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association”

2023-04-17 12:27:40

A computer model shows that four dementia care interventions save costs, reduce admissions to nursing homes, and improve quality of life. They manage without medication and aim to improve home care.

The study compared the cost-effectiveness of standard dementia care with four measures that serve to improve care at home without medication. According to a research group in the Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, this can save between $2,800 and $13,000, depending on the type of measure.

The four interventions provided caregivers in different ways with knowledge, skills and support tailored to their caregiving challenges. They included:

1. a home self-reliance support programme: it includes an individually designed care plan and knowledge building and support from care services;
2. training for carers in six sessions over four months, as well as support as needed and access to self-help groups;
3. an outpatient Alzheimer’s and dementia care service, where people with dementia and their families received a needs assessment and a personalized care plan, as well as 24-hour advice from a care manager;
4. a day care service that, in addition to personal care, provided knowledge about illnesses and care management, as well as recommendations on available resources.

All four methods resulted in a better quality of life for caregivers and those in need of care with dementia. They also reduced admissions to nursing homes and hospitals and mortality. The researchers therefore consider these methods to be the best choice for treating people with dementia – and more suitable than medication: “After we were able to show that these effective interventions also save money, it makes sense to find ways to extend them to more families to provide. Alzheimer’s drugs show promise, but they still need further research and improvement,” said Prof. Eric Jutkowitz of Brown University in Rhode Island.

For the study, the researchers used a computer simulation to calculate the probability of admission to a nursing home for the four non-drug treatments for dementia compared to usual care. The underlying data came from the US public health insurance system (Medicare), as well as from clinical studies and national surveys of carers of people with dementia.

Which: DOI 10.1002/alz.12964