BACKGROUND: Impact of Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression on patient health-related quality of life (HRQoL), caregiver time, and societal costs is not well characterized in early AD.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association of change in cognition with HRQoL, caregiver time, and societal costs over 36 months, and estimate the impact of slowing disease progression on these outcomes.

METHODS: This post-hoc analysis included patients with amyloid-positive mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild AD dementia (MILD AD) from the 36-month GERAS-US study. Disease progression was assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination score. Change in outcomes associated with slowing AD progression was estimated using coefficients from generalized linear models.

RESULTS: At baseline, 300 patients had MCI and 317 had MILD AD. Observed natural progression over 36 months was associated with: 5.1 point decline in the Bath Assessment of Subjective Quality of Life in Dementia (BASQID) score (for HRQoL), increase in 1,050 hours of total caregiver time, and $8,504 total societal costs for MCI; 6.6 point decline in the BASQID score, increase in 1,929 hours of total caregiver time, and $12,795 total societal costs for MILD AD per person. Slowing AD progression by 30% could result in per person savings in HRQoL decline, total caregiver time, and total societal costs: for MCI: 1.5 points, 315 hours, and $2,638; for MILD AD: 2.0 points, 579 hours, and $3,974.

CONCLUSIONS: Slowing AD progression over 36 months could slow decline in HRQoL and save caregiver time and societal cost in patients with MCI and MILD AD.