THE US ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COSTS OF ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE REVISITED

Objects. An earlier paper estimated the per-case and national incidenc e costs of Alzheimer's disease for 1983. This paper updates the estima tes of costs per case to 1991 and presents new national prevalence est imates of the economic and social costs of the disease. Methods, All d ata for the cost estimates were taken from published sources or provid ed by other researchers. Results. At midrange values of the estimated cost and epidemiological parameters, the discounted (at 4%) direct and total costs of Alzheimer's disease were $47581 and $173932 per case, respectively. The estimated 1991 national direct and total prevalence costs were $20.6 billion and S67.3 billion, respectively. Assuming con servatively that the prevalence of the disease remains constant, the e stimated discounted present values of the direct and total costs of al l current and future generations of Alzheimer's patients are $536 bill ion and $1.75 trillion, respectively. Conclusions. The $536 billion an d $1.75 trillion figures are minimum estimates of the long-term dollar losses to the US economy in 1991 caused by Alzheimer's disease.