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78/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 78 out of 100. Getting a diagnosis

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

Background Dementia affects a large and growing number of older adults in the United States. The monetary costs attributable to dementia are likely to be similarly large and to continue to increase. Methods In a subsample (856 persons) of the population in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), a nationally representative longitudinal study of older adults, the diagnosis of dementia was determined with the use of a detailed in-home cognitive assessment that was 3 to 4 hours in duration and a review by an expert panel. We then imputed cognitive status to the full HRS sample (10,903 persons, 31,936 person-years) on the basis of measures of cognitive and functional status available for all HRS respondents, thereby identifying persons in the larger sample with a high probability of dementia. The market costs associated with care for persons with dementia were determined on the basis of self-reported out-of-pocket spending and the utilization of nursing home care; Medicare claims data were used to identify costs paid by Medicare. Hours of informal (unpaid) care were valued either as the cost of equivalent formal (paid) care or as the estimated wages forgone by informal caregivers. Results The estimated prevalence of dementia among persons older than 70 years of age in the United States in 2010 was 14.7%. The yearly monetary cost per person that was attributable to dementia was either $56,290 (95% confidence interval [CI], $42,746 to $69,834) or $41,689 (95% CI, $31,017 to $52,362), depending on the method used to value informal care. These individual costs suggest that the total monetary cost of dementia in 2010 was between $157 billion and $215 billion. Medicare paid approximately $11 billion of this cost. Conclusions Dementia represents a substantial financial burden on society, one that is similar to the financial burden of heart disease and cancer. (Funded by the National Institute on Aging.).

Key findings

The market costs associated with care for persons with dementia were determined on the basis of self-reported out-of-pocket spending and the utilization of nursing home care; Medicare claims data were used to identify costs paid by Medicare.
Results The estimated prevalence of dementia among persons older than 70 years of age in the United States in 2010 was 14.7%.
These individual costs suggest that the total monetary cost of dementia in 2010 was between $157 billion and $215 billion.

Why it matters

This study estimated that dementia affected 14.7% of Americans over 70 in 2010 and cost between $157 billion and $215 billion yearly. It measures the economic burden of dementia but does not treat, cure or prevent it.

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Study details

Study designlongitudinal study
Participants856
Effect size14.7%
Evidence strengthModerate

How this study scored 78/100

Published in a top-tier journal, and it is a longitudinal study following the same people over time. Scored zero for randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	10 / 10	Tier 1 — top-tier general journal (The New England journal of medicine)
Journal's citation record	4 / 4	New England Journal of Medicine: journal h-index 1,505 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	7 / 12	A longitudinal study following the same people over time
Strength of evidence	3 / 5	Rated “moderate” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	1 / 5	2013 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	2 / 4	856 participants
Effect reported	2 / 3	Effect reported as a number, without an interval or test
Studied in people	3 / 3	Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomised / blinded	0 / 2	No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	7 / 7	Cited 1,474 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	5 / 5	98.3 citations a year over 15 year(s) since 2013
Impact for its field and year	6 / 6	Cited 89.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	5 / 6	Cited by 104 other studies in this library
Still being cited	3 / 4	Cited 199 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	4 / 4	Last-listed author Kenneth M. Langa: h-index 102 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	2 / 3	University of Michigan: institution h-index 2,240 (OpenAlex)
Multi-centre collaboration	2 / 3	OpenAlex lists 7 institution(s) in 3 countries
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 23550670)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Total	78 / 100	—

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

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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

Hurd, M. D., Martorell, P., Delavande, A., Mullen, K. J., & Langa, K. M. (2013). Monetary costs of dementia in the United States. The New England journal of medicine. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmsa1204629

Vancouver

Hurd MD, Martorell P, Delavande A, Mullen KJ, Langa KM. Monetary costs of dementia in the United States. The New England journal of medicine. 2013. doi:10.1056/nejmsa1204629. PMID: 23550670.

BibTeX

@article{hurd2013-23550670,
  author  = {Hurd, M. D. and Martorell, P. and Delavande, A. and Mullen, K. J. and Langa, K. M.},
  title   = {{Monetary costs of dementia in the United States}},
  journal = {The New England journal of medicine},
  year    = {2013},
  doi     = {10.1056/nejmsa1204629},
  pmid    = {23550670},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmsa1204629}
}

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