Alzheimer’s costs a fortune in Switzerland
Professional care for Alzheimer’s patients in Switzerland cost about SFr3.5 billion ($3.4 billion) in 2007, according to a study.
Unpaid care by relatives was worth an additional SFr2.8 billion.
Spouses and children often look after their ill relatives without seeking any compensation, notes the study by Ecoplan, an economic research and policy consultancy based in Bern.
About 110,000 people suffering from dementia live in Switzerland. That number will likely rise as the population ages.
The Swiss Alzheimer’s Association expects that there will be as many as 300,000 people with dementia by 2050.
That would account for one in eight people over 65 years old, unless great advances are made in the areas of prevention or treatment.
Swiss Medical Weekly has posted the entire study on its website.
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