Does informal care reduce public care expenditure on elderly care? Estimates based on Finland’s Age Study

Table 1 Distribution of care patterns according to the characteristics of participants in the Age Study

	All		Informal care only for elderly living alone		Informal care only from a co-resident family member		A combination of formal and informal care		Formal care only		Missing care information		P-value of Chi-squared test
	(n = 732)		(n = 184)		(n = 151)		(n = 337)		(n = 45)		(n = 15)
Variable	n/mean	%	n/mean	%	n/mean	%	n/mean	%	n/mean	%	n/mean	%
Age group
65–74	215	30	51	28	71	47	75	22	14	31	4	27
75–84	356	49	95	52	63	42	169	50	20	45	9	60
85+	161	21	38	20	17	11	93	28	11	24	2	13	<0.0001
Gender
Male	101	14	16	9	34	23	40	12	11	25	0	0
Female	631	86	168	91	117	77	297	88	34	75	15	100	0.0003
Financial situation
Good	141	19	28	15	31	20	71	21	7	16	4	27
Average	502	69	138	75	98	65	228	67	31	68	7	46
Poor	89	12	18	10	22	15	38	11	7	16	4	27	NS
Self-assessed health
Good	29	4	6	3	10	7	12	4	1	2	0	0
Average	477	65	116	63	100	66	220	65	29	65	12	80
Poor	226	31	62	34	41	27	105	31	15	33	3	20	NS
IADL
Good	170	23	79	43	37	25	43	13	7	16	4	27
Medium	402	55	96	52	72	48	201	60	23	51	10	67
Poor	160	22	9	5	42	27	93	27	15	33	1	6	<0.0001
FIM™ score§
Limited physical function score <120	449	61	79	43	71	47	252	75	37	82	10	67	<0.0001
GDS score*
Depressive mood score >7	74	10	14	8	11	7	41	12	6	13	2	13	NS
MMSE score†
Declined cognitive capacity score <24	210	29	40	22	30	20	119	35	17	38	4	27	0.0007
Mean HRQoL 15D‡	0.73		0.76		0.74		0.72		0.72		0.75		0.0013

§ FIM: Functional Independence Measure, maximum score 126, three subscales (Self Care, 8 items; Mobility, 5 items; Cognition 5 items) were formed from 18 items (range: 1 = total assistance–7 = complete independence).
* GDS: Geriatric Depression Scale, maximum score 15, values 0–6 indicate non-depressive state.
† MMSE: Mini Mental State Examination, maximum score 30, values under 24 indicate existence of dementia.
‡ 15D: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL), range 0–1, 1 indicates the best imaginable health.

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