Every three seconds, a new case of dementia emerges in the world, and by 2050 there will be at least 150 million persons with dementia. The World Health Organization declared dementia for a public ...health priority of the 21st century before the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2/COVID 19, which affected the elderly population the most. Dementia is a disease that affects the individual, caregivers and wider society. Due to increasing dependence from others, dementia causes a health, economic, emotional, psychological and physical burden for the person with dementia and his caregivers. There is still a great stigma associated with dementia. Less than half of people with dementia are diagnosed and treated, although we have drugs available that can slow the course of the disease. In the multi-author's monograph Monitoring of Dementia in Slovenia: Epidemiological and other aspects, we addressed the problem of dementia, especially in relation to COVID-19. The publication also highlights the estimates on the prevalence of dementia in Slovenia, which were made on Slovenian data and the population of Slovenia. The publication is distinguished by a multidisciplinary treatment of the topics and is intended for both the lay and the professional public.
Dementias present a global health challenge and give rise to significant economic costs. This study aims to evaluate the economic impact of one-year outpatient healthcare, nursing home, and formal ...and informal home help costs for all patients referred to the Centre for Cognitive Impairments at the Department of Neurology, Ljubljana University Medical Centre, Slovenia.
Data was acquired retrospectively from physicians' records and the costs for 2015 were calculated. Total costs were estimated by means of a bottom-up calculation of outpatient visits, diagnostic examinations and anti-dementia medication. In a subgroup of 120 patients with dementia, the Resource Utilization in Dementia questionnaire was used to estimate formal and informal care costs.
A total of 720 patients visited the memory clinic in 2015. Diagnosis at first visit was subjective cognitive or mild cognitive impairment (SCI/ MCI) for 322 patients, dementia for 258 patients, and psychiatric or other disorders for 140 patients. The average annual cost per patient was EUR 578. It was highest for patients with dementia (EUR 751), EUR 550 for patients with SCI/MCI, and lowest for patients with psychiatric and other disorders (EUR 324). Monthly informal and social care costs were between EUR 1,037 and EUR 3,369, depending on the methodology used.
The cost of diagnosing a cognitive disorder depends on how extensive the diagnosis is. With an estimated prevalence of 34,137 persons with dementia in Slovenia, basic diagnostic investigations incur costs of approximately EUR 7 million. Direct medical costs represent a smaller portion of total dementia costs; this is because annual costs for formal and informal home help are estimated at EUR 265 million and nursing home placements at EUR 105 million.
To help general practitioners (GPs) in early identification of patients with palliative care (PC) needs, this pilot study aimed to determine the potential of the combined original surprise question ...(SQ1) ('Would I be surprised if this patient died within the next 12 months?') and the second surprise question (SQ2) ('Would I be surprised if this patient was still alive after 12 months?'). We hypothesized that answering these SQs would trigger them to make a multidimensional care plan.
26 Slovenian GPs, randomized into 4 groups, were invited to write a care plan for each of the four patients described in case vignettes (2 oncologic, 1 organ failure and 1 frailty case). GPs in group 1 were only asked to write a care plan for each patient. GPs in group 2 answered SQ1 and GPs in groups 3 and 4 answered SQ1 and SQ2 before writing the care plan. The type and number of PC aspects mentioned in the respective care plans were quantified into a numeric RADboud ANTicipatory (RADIANT) score.
Mean RADIANT scores in groups 1-4 were 2.2, 3.6, 2.5 and 3.1, respectively. When comparing the different vignettes, vignette B (terminal oncologic patient) scored best (3.6). Mean RADIANT scores in groups 3 and 4 were slightly higher for GPs who would be surprised compared to GPs who would not be surprised if the patient was still alive in 12 months.
The combined SQs were considered helpful in the early identification of patients in need of PC in Slovenian general practice.
Provider: - Institution: - Data provided by Europeana Collections- Vabilo na predstavitev dobrodelnega projekta Bardo.- All metadata published by Europeana are available free of restriction under ...the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. However, Europeana requests that you actively acknowledge and give attribution to all metadata sources including Europeana
PDF
