Preparedness of China's health care system to provide access to a disease-modifying Alzheimer's treatment.
Alzheimers Dement
; 19(12): 5596-5604, 2023 Dec.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37279385
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Although the majority of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) reside in low-and middle-income countries, little is known of the infrastructure in these countries for delivering emerging disease-modifying treatments.METHODS:
We analyze the preparedness of China, the world's most populous middle-income country, using desk research, expert interviews and a simulation model.RESULTS:
Our findings suggest that China's health care system is ill-prepared to provide timely access to Alzheimer's treatment. The current pathway, in which patients seek evaluation in hospital-based memory clinics without a prior assessment in primary care, would overwhelm existing capacity. Even with triage using a brief cognitive assessment and a blood test for the AD pathology, predicted wait times would remain over 2 years for decades, largely due to limited capacity for confirmatory biomarker testing despite adequate specialist capacity.DISCUSSION:
Closing this gap will require the introduction of high-performing blood tests, greater reliance on cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) testing, and expansion of positron emission tomography (PET) capacity.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Enfermedad de Alzheimer
Tipo de estudio:
Prognostic_studies
Límite:
Humans
País/Región como asunto:
Asia
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Alzheimers Dement
Año:
2023
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Estados Unidos