%0 Journal Article
%T How Does the Canadian General Public Rate Moderate Alzheimer's Disease?
%A Jean-Eric Tarride
%A Mark Oremus
%A Eleanor Pullenayegum
%A Natasha Clayton
%A Parminder Raina
%J Journal of Aging Research
%D 2011
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.4061/2011/682470
%X Objectives. The objectives of this study were to elicit health utility scores for moderate Alzheimer's disease (AD) using members of the general public. Methods. Five-hundred Canadians were chosen randomly to participate in a telephone interview. The EQ-5D was administered to estimate the health utility score for respondents' current health status (i.e., no AD) and for a hypothetical moderate AD health state. Regression analyses were conducted to explain the perceived utility decrement associated with AD. Results. The mean age of the respondents was 51 years, 60% were female, and 42% knew someone with AD. Respondents' mean EQ-5D scores for their current health status and a hypothetical moderate AD were 0.873 (SD: 0.138) and 0.638 (SD: 0.194), respectively ( ). Age, gender, and education were significant factors explaining this decrement in utility. Conclusion. Members of the general public may serve as an alternative to patients and caregivers in the elicitation of health-related quality of life in AD. 1. Introduction Alzheimer¡¯s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia, is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States (US) among persons aged 65 years or older [1]. Approximately 5.3 million Americans have AD, 5.1 million of whom are over the age of 65 years [2]. The financial burden of AD and other dementias is considerable, with an estimated annual total cost of $148 billion in the US in 2005 [3]. The annual cost per patient in the US was found to be three times higher for persons with AD and other dementias relative to persons without AD or other dementias (i.e., $33,007 relative to $10,603 in 2004) [3]. Other studies conducted in the US or elsewhere similarly concluded that AD costs were high and likely to rise over time due to the aging of the population [4¨C7]. Although several medications have been approved to treat AD (e.g., cholinesterase inhibitors, memantine), some jurisdictions (e.g., United Kingdom [8], Ontario, Canada [9]) limit reimbursement of these drugs (e.g., reimbursement in the United Kingdom is limited to persons with moderate AD only). The most prominent reasons for limiting reimbursement are grounded in the fact that the medications treat the symptoms of AD only (they are not a cure) [10] and cost between $2.90 and $6.80 per pill (US figures) [11]. In a cost-containment environment, economic evaluations are playing an increasingly important role in pricing and reimbursement decisions, [12], especially for relatively expensive medications that have modest efficacy. In AD, cognitive decline continues when persons with
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jar/2011/682470/