Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD
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Comparative Study
Patterns of healthcare utilization and costs for vascular dementia in a community-dwelling population.
While vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most prevalent dementia diagnosis, little is known about healthcare use and costs for VaD. ⋯ VaD patients had higher healthcare costs compared to all other patient groups. The substantially higher costs for VaD compared to CVD and the differences in use of healthcare services by VaD compared to CVD suggest that dementia, not cerebrovascular disease, is a major source of the cost differences. Lower costs for physician visits and prescription drugs for VaD suggest possible opportunities for improving ambulatory care and preventing high-cost hospitalizations.