This page is alzhub.org's plain-English summary of a published study, not the paper itself. It is generated from the record we hold for this study, sourced and linked below — check the original for the full text and methods.

32/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 32 out of 100. Risk factors

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Unmet need for long-term care (LTC) could be associated with higher health care utilization and medical spending. In France funding of LTC is decentralised and there are significant disparities in accessibility of LTC. We analyse the impact of geographical variations in LTC funding and supply on healthcare expenditure focusing on dementia patients. Healthcare spending of individuals is calculated from a national linked claims database. We run multilevel models exploiting the variations in spending across two geographical levels (residential areas nested in local authorities (LA)) to estimate the impact of local LTC supply and funding on health spending of patients with dementia. We estimated the generosity of LTC funding at LA with a stochastic frontier model and developed a taxonomy of LTC supply. Dementia patients living in LAs with most generous LTC funding have significantly lower acute (-11 %) and post-acute (-35 %) hospital spending while they have higher (+17 %) primary care spending. Moreover, people in areas with the highest LTC supply spend 3 % less on hospital care per year and per person compared to those in underserved areas. Our results suggest that better accessibility of LTC with better funding and LTC supply can reduce hospital spending and improve overall health system efficiency.

Key findings

Unmet need for long-term care (LTC) could be associated with higher health care utilization and medical spending.
In France funding of LTC is decentralised and there are significant disparities in accessibility of LTC.
Dementia patients living in LAs with most generous LTC funding have significantly lower acute (-11 %) and post-acute (-35 %) hospital spending while they have higher (+17 %) primary care spending.
Moreover, people in areas with the highest LTC supply spend 3 % less on hospital care per year and per person compared to those in underserved areas.
Our results suggest that better accessibility of LTC with better funding and LTC supply can reduce hospital spending and improve overall health system efficiency.

Why it matters

Dementia patients in French areas with the most generous long-term care funding had lower acute and post-acute hospital spending but higher primary care spending. Areas with the highest long-term care supply also had lower hospital spending, suggesting better long-term care access may reduce hospital use.

New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Risk factors, ranked →

Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 32/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Aging and Health Research)
Journal's citation record	0 / 4	Aging and Health Research: journal h-index 20 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	4 / 5	2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	0 / 4	Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	0 / 3	Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Randomised / blinded	0 / 2	No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	1 / 7	Cited 1 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	0 / 5	0.3 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025
Impact for its field and year	2 / 6	Cited 1.2× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	0 / 6	No other study in this library cites it
Still being cited	0 / 4	Cited 1 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	2 / 4	Last-listed author Zeynep Or: h-index 28 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	1 / 3	Université Paris Cité: institution h-index 841 (OpenAlex)
Multi-centre collaboration	1 / 3	OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 1 country
Indexed in PubMed	1 / 2	Not in PubMed, but has a DOI
Free to read	2 / 2	Free to read
Total	32 / 100	—

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

Read the original

Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

APA 7th

Penneau, A., & Or, Z. (2025). Impact of regional inequalities in long-term care on health spending: evidence from dementia patients in France. Aging and Health Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ahr.2025.100239

Vancouver

Penneau A, Or Z. Impact of regional inequalities in long-term care on health spending: evidence from dementia patients in France. Aging and Health Research. 2025. doi:10.1016/j.ahr.2025.100239.

BibTeX

@article{penneau2025-dd30695b,
  author  = {Penneau, Anne and Or, Zeynep},
  title   = {{Impact of regional inequalities in long-term care on health spending: evidence from dementia patients in France}},
  journal = {Aging and Health Research},
  year    = {2025},
  doi     = {10.1016/j.ahr.2025.100239},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ahr.2025.100239}
}

Related studies in Risk factors

Also tagged “prevalence”

1,224 studies in the library carry the topic tag “prevalence”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 1,224 tagged studies.

Similar studies

More on Risk factors

See all studies in Risk factors →