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Costs of informal care in a sample of German geriatric stroke survivors

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Abstract

Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability. A large proportion of geriatric stroke survivors receive informal care. The assessment and monetary valuation of informal care should therefore constitute an essential part of any health economic analysis, but it is hardly measured in stroke caregiver studies. The aim of the current research was to estimate the amount of informal care provided by caregivers of stroke survivors aged 60 years and older and to calculate its economic value. Information about caregiving time in activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), and supervision during the last 3 months was obtained from 122 caregivers by means of structured interviews. The proxy good method was applied for the monetary valuation of time. About 63 % of the stroke survivors in our sample were moderately cognitively impaired. The results showed that the majority of the main caregivers assisted in ADL and IADL. Supervision was delivered by 45.9 %. The median amount of help in ADL was 13.9, in IADL 22.2, and in supervision 13.9 h/week. The median overall amount of care was 42.8 h/week. Fifty percent were supported by additional persons (2.7 h/week). The mean overall costs of informal care were calculated at 2252 €/month. Our results reveal the high social and economic costs of informal care. The main burden of caregiving appears to be carried by the primary caregiver. Consequently, support and counseling of this group is important. Furthermore, caregiver interventions should be aimed at the mobilization of informal resources.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance for funding this project as well as Ruth Hoffrichter, Beate Lindemann, and Julia Wengert for their support, and all of the caregivers who participated in this study.

Funding

This research was supported by Grants from the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds [GKV-Spitzenverband]. We declare that the sponsor played no role in the design, execution, analysis, and interpretation of data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Gerontology and Rehabilitation, Robert-Bosch-Hospital, Auerbachstr 110, 70376, Stuttgart, Germany

    Diana Albrecht, Clemens Becker & Klaus Pfeiffer

  2. Department of Psychology, Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Eberhard Karls University, Schleichstr 4, 72076, Tübingen, Germany

    Diana Albrecht & Martin Hautzinger

  3. Institute of Health Care and Public Management, Economics and Management of Social Services, Hohenheim University, Fruwirthstr 48, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany

    Tanja Wollensak & Christian Ernst

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  1. Diana Albrecht
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  2. Tanja Wollensak
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  3. Christian Ernst
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  4. Clemens Becker
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Correspondence to Diana Albrecht.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Institutional review board approval was obtained by the Ethics Committee of the University of Tübingen. The study was registered at www.isrctn.org as ISRCTN 86289718.

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Responsible editor: H. Litwin.

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Albrecht, D., Wollensak, T., Ernst, C. et al. Costs of informal care in a sample of German geriatric stroke survivors. Eur J Ageing 13, 49–61 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10433-015-0356-x

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