Long-Term Care Survey Alert

Alzheimer's Disease:

BEHAVIORAL SYMPTOMS BIGGEST COST DRIVER IN ALZHEIMER'S CARE

Here’s one study finding that nursing homes could write the book on: Behavioral symptoms in Alzheimer’s patients drive up direct-care costs.

Researchers at Michigan State University found that patients with probable AD who scored at or above the median for behavioral symptoms on the

Neuropsychiatric Inventory had the highest annual direct care costs. And that was after adjusting for differences in the degree of these patients’ cognitive impairment and comorbidities.

Patients in the high NPI group had formal direct care costs between $3,162 and $5,919 higher than the low NPI group — and total direct costs between $10,670 and $16,141 higher, depending on the severity of cognitive impairments. The study was published in the Dec. 10 issue of Neurology (www.neurology.org).

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