dementia research funding disproportionately low

PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 596 - 6 Feb 2010

Dementia research fundingdisproportionately low

Despite dementia costing the economy twice as muchas cancer, research targeting dementia receives 12 timesless funding than cancer research in the UK, the BBC hasreported.

The figures were quoted from a report, prepared byresearchers from Oxford University, in which the costsof caring for patients with dementia were comparedwith the equivalent costs for patients with cancer, heartdisease, or stroke. The study included direct healthcarecosts, as well as costs associated with social care,unpaid carers and productivity losses.

It was found that, per patient, dementia cost the UKeconomy £27 647 annually: nearly five times that ofcancer and eight times that of heart disease. As over820 000 patients in the UK have dementia, the resultingtotal cost of caring for dementia patients came to£23 billion annually: double the cost of cancer. Despitethese costs, cancer research was found to receive nearly£600 million annually in funding (£295 per patient),while dementia research received only £50 million (£61per patient). Heart disease research received three timesas much funding as dementia research overall. Proposedexplanations for the research-funding discrepancyincluded the finding that, for cancer and heart disease, alarge proportion of treatment costs fell on the UK NHS,whereas dementia-related costs largely fell onindividuals and their families.BBC News. Dementia ’losing out’ on funding. Internet Document : [3 pages], 4Feb 2010. Available from: URL: http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk 801052862

1

PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 6 Feb 2010 No. 5961173-5503/10/0596-0001/$14.95 © 2010 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved