Costs During the Last Five Years of Life for Patients with Clinical and Pathological Confirmed Diagnosis of Lewy Body Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease

Background: Little is known regarding healthcare expenditures for patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) during the end of life.

Objective: This study estimated Medicare expenditures during the last 5 years of life in a decedent sample of patients who were clinically diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or DLB and had autopsy confirmed diagnosis.

Methods: The study included 58 participants clinically diagnosed with mild dementia at study entry (AD: n = 44, DLB: n = 14) and also had autopsy-confirmed diagnoses of pure AD (n = 32), mixed AD+Lewy body (LB) (n = 5), or pure LB (n = 11). Total Medicare expenditures were compared by clinical and pathology confirmed diagnosis, adjusting for sex, age at death, and patient's cognition, function, comorbidities, and psychiatric and extrapyramidal symptoms.

Results: When pathology diagnoses were not considered, predicted annualized total Medicare expenditures during the last 5 years of life were similar between clinically diagnosed AD ($7,465±1,098) and DLB ($7,783±1,803). When clinical diagnoses were not considered, predicted expenditures were substantially higher in patients with pathology confirmed mixed AD+LB ($12,005±2,455) than either pure AD ($6,173±941) or pure LB ($4,629±1,968) cases. Considering clinical and pathology diagnosis together, expenditures for patients with clinical DLB and pathology mixed AD+LB ($23,592±3,679) dwarfed other groups.

Conclusion: Medicare expenditures during the last 5 years of life were substantially higher in patients with mixed AD+LB pathology compared to those with pure-AD and pure-LB pathologies, particularly in those clinically diagnosed with DLB. Results highlight the importance of having both clinical and pathology diagnoses in examining healthcare costs.