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Cognitive stimulation therapy for people with dementia: cost-effectiveness analysis.

Knapp M, Thorgrimsen L, Patel A, Spector A, Hallam A, Woods B, Orrell M

Personal Social Services Research Unit, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE. m.knapp@lse.ac.uk

BACKGROUND: Psychological therapy groups for people with dementia are widely used, but their cost-effectiveness has not been explored. AIMS: To investigate the cost-effectiveness of an evidence-based cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) programme for people with dementia as part of a randomised controlled trial. METHOD: A total of 91 people with dementia, living in care homes or the community, received a CST group intervention twice weekly for 8 weeks; 70 participants with dementia received treatment as usual. Service use was recorded 8 weeks before and during the 8-week intervention and costs were calculated. A cost-effectiveness analysis was conducted with cognition as the primary outcome, and quality of life as the secondary outcome. Cost-effectiveness acceptability curves were plotted. RESULTS: Cognitive stimulation therapy has benefits for cognition and quality of life in dementia, and costs were not different between the groups. Under reasonable assumptions, there is a high probability that CST is more cost-effective than treatment as usual, with regard to both outcome measures. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive stimulation therapy for people with dementia has effectiveness advantages over, and may be more cost-effective than, treatment as usual.

Published 1 June 2006 in Br J Psychiatry, 188: 574-80.
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