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Several retrospective, claims-based studies have been conducted to look at rates of hospitalization in patients reported to have dementia. These findings are imperfect, because dementia is often underdiagnosed in the outpatient setting. Now, researchers have conducted a prospective, longitudinal, 13-year study to analyze rates of hospitalization among 3019 adults, including 494 in whom dementia was identified during biennial screening. The researchers also sought to answer whether rates of hospitalization among elders (with or without dementia) differ between all-cause conditions and those deemed to be ambulatory care–sensitive conditions (ACSC) — those potentially treatable in outpatient settings.
The rate of hospitalization was significant…