Burden of Disease

Project Outlines and Aims

The distribution of government health service funding for specific diseases is based, in part, on the relative amount of quantifiable burden related to each disorder. In order to ensure adequate services are available for the ageing population it is crucial that the burden of disease estimates for dementia are comprehensive and accurate. However, the current estimates are problematic for several reasons. First, the current Australian burden estimates for dementia rely on an overseas-based "disability-weight" metric which reflects neither the Australian experience of dementia nor the preferences of people closely affected by the disease (e.g. carers). Second, there is no evidence to suggest that the current methods used to account for the impact of disease comorbidity in dementia are adequate. Finally, since the dementia estimates do not include milder/prodromal conditions such as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), the impact of dementia in Australia may not be fully estimated.


In response to the above limitations, this project aims to:

1. Describe and quantify the burden associated with MCI.
2. Collect Australian-specific dementia disability rating data.
3. Examine how disease comorbidity influences burden of disease estimates for dementia.
4. Generate new burden of disease estimates for dementia and compare these to the existing estimates.

Staff

Dr Tracy Anderson
Professor Gavin Andrews
Ms Cynthia Honan