Dataset Information

Preparedness of the Brazilian health-care system to provide access to a disease-modifying Alzheimer's disease treatment.

ABSTRACT:

Background

While the majority of patients with Alzheimer's disease resides in low and middle-income countries, little is known of their preparedness for emerging disease-modifying treatments. We analyze the preparedness of Brazil, one of the most populous middle-income countries, from a capacity and institutional preparedness perspective.

Methods

Desk research and 12 interviews for background and capacity data. Markov model to estimate wait times for access to treatment.

Findings

Brazil has no national dementia strategy or established pathway for evaluation of cognitive concerns, and dementia is typically diagnosed late if at all. While members of private health plans have ready access to elective specialty care, wait times in the public sector are long. Assuming potentially treatment-eligible patients are referred from primary to specialty care based on a brief cognitive exam and a blood test for the Alzheimer's pathology, available capacity will not be sufficient to match the projected demand. The biggest obstacle is availability of dementia specialist visits, and the effect of population growth and ageing means that the wait list for specialist appointment will continue to grow from around 400,000 in 2022 to over 2.2 million in 2040. We do not project substantial wait times for confirmatory biomarker testing and treatment delivery but note that this is a consequence of patients waiting for their specialist appointments. These queues will result in estimated persistent wait times for treatment of around two years on average with substantial differences between the public and private sectors, as capacity growth is insufficient to keep up with increasing demand.

Discussion

Our findings suggest that Brazil is ill-prepared to provide timely access to an Alzheimer's treatment with predicted wait times of about two years, largely because of a limited number of dementia specialists.

SUBMITTER: Mattke S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10087834 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Preparedness of the Brazilian health-care system to provide access to a disease-modifying Alzheimer's disease treatment.

Mattke Soeren S Corrêa Dos Santos Filho Otelo O Hanson Mark M Mateus Elaine Fernandes EF Neto João Paulo Reis JPR de Souza Leonardo Cruz LC Rizek Schultz Rodrigo R Pereira Pinto Roney R

Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association 20220905 1

<h4>Background</h4>While the majority of patients with Alzheimer's disease resides in low and middle-income countries, little is known of their preparedness for emerging disease-modifying treatments. We analyze the preparedness of Brazil, one of the most populous middle-income countries, from a capacity and institutional preparedness perspective.<h4>Methods</h4>Desk research and 12 interviews for background and capacity data. Markov model to estimate wait times for access to treatment.<h4>Findin ...[more]

PMID: 36063494

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Dataset Information

Preparedness of the Brazilian health-care system to provide access to a disease-modifying Alzheimer's disease treatment.

Background

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Publications

Preparedness of the Brazilian health-care system to provide access to a disease-modifying Alzheimer's disease treatment.

Similar Datasets

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