4.3 Article

Societal costs of informal care of community-dwelling frail elderly people

期刊

SCANDINAVIAN JOURNAL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
卷 49, 期 4, 页码 433-440

出版社

SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/1403494819844354

关键词

Informal care; frailty; older people; costs

资金

  1. Healthcare sub-committee, Region Vastra Gotaland, Sweden
  2. Department of Research and Development, NU Hospital Group, Sweden
  3. Fyrbodal Research and Development Council, Region Vastra Gotaland, Sweden

向作者/读者索取更多资源

The study aimed to describe informal care activities and estimate the societal cost of caring for frail elderly people in Sweden. Results showed that informal caregivers provided an average of 245 hours of care over three months, with a mean cost of approximately 18,000 SEK (euro1878) over the same period. The total annual societal costs of informal care for community-dwelling frail elderly people in Sweden were estimated to be approximately 11,000 million SEK (euro1150 million), highlighting the significant economic value of informal caregiving and the importance of supporting informal caregivers in society.
Aims: The aims of this study are to describe informal care activities and to estimate the societal cost of informal care of community-dwelling frail elderly people in Sweden. Methods: This study was performed within the frame of the TREEE project that included 408 frail elderly patients. At index hospitalisation (baseline), primary informal caregivers of the patients were provided with a questionnaire on informal care during a period of three months. Questions concerning other (secondary) informal caregivers were also included. A rough estimate of the total cost of informal care of frail elderly people in Sweden was obtained by combining data from this study with published data and official statistics. Results: In total, 176 informal caregivers responded, and 89% had provided informal care. The informal caregivers (primary and secondary) provided care for an average of 245 hours over three months. Taking care of the home was the dominating activity. In total, the mean cost of informal care was estimated to approximately 18,000 SEK (euro1878) over three months, corresponding to an annual cost of approximately 72,000 SEK (euro7477) per frail elderly person. The total annual societal costs of informal care of community dwelling frail elderly people aged 75 years and older in Sweden was estimated to be approximately 11,000 million SEK (euro1150 million). Conclusions: The care of frail elderly people provided by informal caregivers is extensive and represents a great economic value. Although our calculations are associated with uncertainty, the size indicates that supporting informal caregivers should be a priority for society.

作者

我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。

评论

主要评分

4.3
评分不足

次要评分

新颖性
-
重要性
-
科学严谨性
-
评价这篇论文

推荐

暂无数据
暂无数据