Economic evaluation of a digital health intervention for preventing dementia in Canadians with mild cognitive impairment

Dementia poses an on-going Canadian challenge due to an aging population, with cases projected to rise significantly by 2050. This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of a conceptual digital health intervention designed to prevent dementia in Canadians with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The analysis is exploratory and conceptual, comparing different scenarios for the possible effectiveness of the digital intervention for dementia prevention. Using data from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2021 study, a long-term economic evaluation was conducted from a healthcare payer perspective, comparing intervention costs to usual care between 2030 and 2050. Health outcome was assessed using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) averted. The analysis revealed favorable incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) well below conventional willingness-to-pay thresholds across all scenarios. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of these findings, underscoring the intervention’s potential to cost-effectively reduce dementia burden. The findings are based on modeled assumptions in the absence of empirical efficacy data and should therefore be interpreted with caution until validated in real-world settings. Yet, these results provide valuable insights for Canadian policymakers on scalable, proactive dementia prevention strategies.