ABSTRACT
References 335
A highly prevalent group of disorders such as dementia present a challenge for any health care and social support system. The combination of costly care (Ernst and Hay, 1994; Winblad et al., 1997), difficulties in funding health care and an important contribution by informal caregivers focus on the basics in any health economic analysis and put the costs of dementia and cost effectiveness of dementia care into focus. It has been debated whether ‘the welfare state’ will be able to care for the increasing number of elderly people in general (OECD, 1996), and with dementia in particular (Lovestone, 2002). However, in the light of the enormous economic impact of dementia, it is surprising that the health economics of dementia have such a small scientific base (Jonsson et al., 2000; Gray, 2002; SBU, 2008). The first (and only) basic textbook in this field (Wimo et al., 1998a) was published in 1998 and reviewers have stressed the need for further studies (Jonsson et al., 2000; Shukla et al., 2000; Grutzendler and Morris, 2001; Lamb and Goa, 2001; NICE, 2001; Clegg et al., 2002; Gray, 2002; Lyseng-Williamson and Plosker, 2002; Olin and Schneider, 2002; Wolfson et al., 2002; Birks and Harvey, 2006; Jonsson, 2003; Lyseng-Williamson and Plosker, 2003; Leung et al., 2003; SBU, 2008; Jo¨nsson and Wimo, 2009; NICE, 2009).
