Dementia has the greatest impact on the provision of residential
aged care, compared with its impact on other services such as
hospitals, GPs and community aged care programs, according to a new
report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
(AIHW).
The impact of dementia on the health and aged care
systems states that over 40% of older people living in cared
accommodation (mainly residential aged care) have dementia, and for
almost one-third of permanent aged care residents, dementia is the
long-term health condition causing the most problems.
Head of AIHW's Ageing and Aged Care Unit, Ann Peut, said that
the length of stay by these residents is, on average, longer than
stays by other residents.
'For people leaving residential aged care in 2002, those with
dementia had been residents for 169 weeks, compared with 119 weeks
for people without dementia,' she said.
Ms Peut said around 167,000 Australians were affected by
dementia in 2002, including 105,000 aged 80 and over.
'An estimated one-fifth of people aged 85 or over are affected
by dementia to such a degree that they need assistance with
self-care, mobility or communication.'
GPs managed dementia at a rate of six per 1,000 adult patient
encounters (0.6%) in 2001-02, with about one-quarter of these
involving Alzheimer's disease.
The impact of dementia on hospital services is relatively
greater than that for general practice. People whose dementia
contributed to the cost of their hospital stay accounted for
70,700, or 2.3% of hospital admissions (excluding same-day
admissions) in 2000-01.
Because of the high prevalence of dementia in residential aged
care homes, a large share - 84% or $2.1 billion - of health and
aged care system expenditures attributed to dementia were spent in
residential aged care. This included $1.8 billion in government
funding and $360 million in user payments.
Overall, dementia cost Australia's health and aged care systems
an estimated $2.5 billion in direct expenditures in 2000-01.
The cost of dementia to the community can also be measured in
terms of the disease burden it causes for sufferers, and it is the
greatest single contributor to burden of disease due to disability
at older ages.
In 1996, dementia accounted for 10% of years of healthy life
lost due to disability by men aged 55 and over, and 17% of years of
healthy life lost due to disability by women of the same age
group.
'Unless there are significant breakthroughs in treatment and/or
prevention, dementia will continue to have a major impact on the
provision of services, especially residential aged care,' Ms Peut
said.
11 June 2004
Further information: For general queries, Ann
Peut, AIHW, tel. 02 6244 1108 or mobile 0419 296 053.
For burden of disease and expenditure queries, John Goss, AIHW,
tel. 6244 1151 or mobile 0407 915 851.
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. 02 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW
Publications Catalogue for availability of The impact of
dementia on the health and aged care systems, June 2004.