For the first time, the total social costs of dementia in the Netherlands have been calculated. According to researchers at Erasmus University, these are enormous: more than 30 billion euros per year.
For the study, carried out on behalf of Alzheimer Netherlands, Erasmus University did not only look at direct care costs for people with dementia. These amount to more than 16 billion euros.
Costs of informal care, for example, are also included; people who care for a loved one have less time for paid work. Informal care for people with dementia costs society a total of more than 10 billion euros, the researchers calculated. Municipalities also incur a lot of costs: almost 3 billion euros. And so the research arrives at a total amount of 31.8 billion euros.
According to Wiesje van der Flier, director of Alzheimer Netherlands, the study shows that dementia affects our country economically much harder than just through healthcare budgets. “There are many hidden costs and they have now been properly identified for the first time. More than 30 billion, that is a really large amount.”
‘Burdens don’t disappear, they shift’
What the numbers also show, according to Van der Flier: “That if you cut back on healthcare costs, and I understand that this has to happen, those costs will rise elsewhere. The burdens do not disappear, they shift. Even more so to informal caregivers, who are already at their wits’ end, to municipalities, to the police who more often have to deal with people with dementia who show confused behavior.”
The boss of Alzheimer Nederland states that the Netherlands has 320,000 people with dementia and that their number will continue to increase for the time being. While dementia can be partly prevented, and the consequences of the disease can be mitigated. “Developing dementia is partly related to an unhealthy lifestyle, so there is really a lot to be gained from that. Medicines can also help. But then you have to invest in developing and making those medicines available, and diagnoses of dementia must be made at the earliest possible stage.”
Good care and support can also help to reduce the social costs of dementia. Van der Flier: “Dementia can take up to twenty years from the first brain damage to someone’s death. That alone shows how important it is to invest in prevention, good care, etc. Ultimately, it will save you money as a society.”
Lots of assumptions
The figure of 30 billion euros contains quite a few assumptions. Because how do you determine exactly how much the police incur for people with dementia? What is the hourly wage that you pay to an informal caregiver who cannot perform paid work? And what costs does the average caregiver incur in fuel, for example, if they have to make another trip to a mother with dementia?
Alzheimer Nederland hopes that the research will be refined in the coming years, so that the costs of dementia can be mapped out even better. What director Van der Flier also hopes: that every Dutch person does his part to keep the impact of the disease as small as possible.
“By living a healthy life, by participating in scientific research – that is always what people are looking for – but also by looking in your environment to see if there are people who care for someone with dementia and who might need help.”
The Impact of Dementia report, a cost analysis of the efforts and costs surrounding people with dementia and their loved ones, will be presented on Wednesday, May 27, during a public dementia day in Zeist. The report was written by Robbert Huijsman, professor of Management & Organization of Elderly Care at Erasmus University in Rotterdam, in collaboration with employees of Alzheimer Nederland.
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