Trial reportBMJ open2014
Early psychosocial intervention in Alzheimer's disease: cost utility evaluation alongside the Danish Alzheimer's Intervention Study (DAISY).
Trial report in BMJ open, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 9 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 9 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The effect of psychosocial and healthcare interventions on reducing hospitalization in people with dementia: an umbrella review.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Pooled it
- Cost-Effectiveness of Non-pharmacological Interventions for Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia: A Systematic Review of Economic Evaluations and a Review of Reviews.PharmacoEconomics - open · 2023Pooled it
- The Costs of Dementia in Europe: An Updated Review and Meta-analysis.PharmacoEconomics · 2023Pooled it
- The value of supportive care: A systematic review of cost-effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions for dementia.PloS one · 2023Pooled it
- Cost-Utility Analyses of Interventions for Informal Carers: A Systematic and Critical Review.PharmacoEconomics · 2020Pooled it
- How relevant are social costs in economic evaluations? The case of Alzheimer's disease.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2019Pooled it
- Can non-pharmacological interventions reduce hospital admissions in people with dementia? A systematic review.PloS one · 2019Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Health economic evaluations of non-pharmacological interventions for persons with dementia and their informal caregivers: a systematic review.BMC geriatrics · 2018Pooled it
- Cost-effectiveness of a community-based dementia support model: evidence from a real-world economic evaluation.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2026Article
- UK General Population Utility Values for the SIDECAR-D Instrument Measuring the Impact of Caring for People With Dementia.Value in health : the journal of the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research · 2020Article
- Family and Caregiver Spillover Effects in Cost-Utility Analyses of Alzheimer's Disease Interventions.PharmacoEconomics · 2019Article
- Parental Health Spillover in Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: Evidence from Self-Harming Adolescents in England.PharmacoEconomics · 2019Article
- Cost-effectiveness of cerebrospinal biomarkers for the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer's research & therapy · 2017Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo assess the cost utility of early psychosocial intervention for patients with Alzheimer's disease and their primary caregivers.
designCost utility evaluation alongside a multicentre, randomised controlled trial with 3 years of follow-up.
settingPrimary care and memory clinics in five Danish districts.
participants330 community-dwelling patients and their primary caregivers.
interventionPsychosocial counselling and support lasting 8-12 months after diagnosis and follow-up at 3, 6, 12 and 36 months in the intervention group or follow-up only in the control group.
main outcome measuresThe primary outcome measure was the cost of additional quality-adjusted life years (QALYs). Costs were measured from a societal perspective, including the costs of healthcare, social care, informal care and production loss. QALYs were estimated separately for the patient and the caregiver before aggregation for the main analysis.
resultsNone of the observed cost and QALY measures were significantly different between the intervention and control groups, although a tendency was noted for psychosocial care leading to cost increases with informal care that was not outweighed by the tendency for cost savings with formal care. The probability of psychosocial intervention being cost-effective did not exceed 36% for any threshold value. The alternative scenario analysis showed that the probability of cost-effectiveness increased over the range of threshold values used if the cost perspective was restricted to formal healthcare.
conclusionsA multifaceted, psychosocial intervention programme was found unlikely to be cost-effective from a societal perspective. The recommendation for practice in settings that are similar to the Danish setting is to provide follow-up with referral to available local support programmes when needed, and to restrict large multifaceted intervention programmes to patients and caregivers with special needs until further evidence for cost-effectiveness emerges.
trial registrationThe study was registered in the Clinical Trial Database as ISRCTN74848736.
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