Numbers studies have shown Alzheimer’s disease patients spend tens of thousands more on end-of-life healthcare costs than other Americans, but new research shows those costs begin to increase even before a diagnosis is made.

In fact, the healthcare costs of patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's start to increase a full year before the diagnosis, according to researchers from the University of Eastern Finland.

The analysis showed Alzheimer’s patients spend more than $5,400 more per year on healthcare costs than their healthy counterparts, even before being diagnosed. Two years after the diagnosis, healthcare costs for Alzheimer’s patients are two times higher.

Most of those higher costs in the early years are tied to hospital care, not drug therapy. But anti-dementia drugs initiated after a diagnosis are the primary reason for the majority of added costs for Alzheimer’s care.

The findings, based on analysis of more than 70,000 Finish Alzheimer’s patients, also found that even five years prior to a diagnosis, patients who went on to develop the brain-wasting disorder had on average 1.4 hospital stays more per person-year than non-Alzheimer’s patients.

Two years after a diagnosis, Alzheimer’s patients had as many as 14.2 hospital stays as healthy individuals.