Relationship between treatment initiation and healthcare costs in Alzheimer's disease

The relationship between Alzheimer's disease (AD) treatment patterns and healthcare costs is unknown. Administrative claims data from the MarketScan Commercial and Medicare databases covering 2010 through 2016 were used to identify the comorbidities, treatment patterns, and healthcare costs in the three years prior to and one year post medical diagnosis of AD in 21,448 patients with no treatment and 57,970 patients with treatment. Pre-index mean annual costs ranged from 14,228 to 26,876, and post-index mean annual costs ranged from 21,052 to 45,685 depending on age and treatment timing. After adjusting for baseline characteristics, patients 50-100 years old who initiated treatment with an FDA approved drug prior to or concurrent with diagnosis had healthcare costs 9%-19% lower in the year following diagnosis than those who did not receive treatment. Early or concurrent treatment is associated with lower overall healthcare costs in the year following AD diagnosis.