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Objectives This study provides the first comparison of trends in dementia prevalence in the U.S. population using 3 different dementia ascertainments/data sources: neuropsychological assessment, cognitive tests, and diagnosis codes from Medicare claims. Methods We used data from the nationally representative Health and Retirement Study and Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study, and a 20% random sample of Medicare beneficiaries. We compared dementia prevalence across the 3 sources by race, gender, and age. We estimated trends in dementia prevalence from 2006 to 2013 based on cognitive tests and diagnosis codes utilizing logistic regression. Results Dementia prevalence among older adults aged 70 and older in 2004 was 16.6% (neuropsychological assessment), 15.8% (cognitive tests), and 12.2% (diagnosis codes). The difference between dementia prevalence based on cognitive tests and diagnosis codes diminished in 2012 (12.4% and 12.9%, respectively), driven by decreasing rates of cognitive test-based and increasing diagnosis codes-based dementia prevalence. This difference in dementia prevalence between the 2 sources by sex and for age groups 75–79 and 90 and older vanished over time. However, there remained substantial differences across measures in dementia prevalence among blacks and Hispanics (10.9 and 9.8 percentage points, respectively) in 2012. Discussion Our results imply that ascertainment of dementia through diagnosis may be improving over time, but gaps across measures among racial/ethnic minorities highlight the need for improved measurement of dementia prevalence in these populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To describe 12-month treatment patterns and outcomes for patients starting a new medication for fibromyalgia in routine clinical practice. Design and Outcome Measures Data from 1,700 patients were collected at baseline and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. Repeated measures and Poisson regression models controlling for demographic, clinical, and baseline outcomes were used to assess changes in health outcomes ( Brief Pain Inventory severity and interference, Sheehan Disability Scale, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire), satisfaction, and economic factors for patients who initiated on pregabalin (214, 12.6%), duloxetine (264, 15.5%), milnacipran (134, 7.9%), or tricyclic antidepressants (66, 3.9%). Sensitivity analyses were run using propensity-matched cohorts. Results Patients started on 145 unique drugs for fibromyalgia, and over 75% of patients took two or more medications concurrently for fibromyalgia at each time point assessed. Overall, patients showed improvement on the four health outcomes, with few differences across medication cohorts. At baseline, patients reported annual averages of 20.3 visits for outpatient care, 27.7 missed days of work, and 32.6 days of care by an unpaid caregiver. The duloxetine and milnacipran (vs pregabalin or tricyclic antidepressant) cohorts had fewer outpatient visits during the 12-month study. Patients reported satisfaction with overall treatment and their fibromyalgia medication (46.0% and 42.8%, respectively). Conclusions In this real-world setting, patients with fibromyalgia reported modest improvements, high resource, and medication use, and were satisfied with the care they received. Cohort differences were difficult to discern because of the high rates of drug discontinuation and concomitant medication use over the 12-month study period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]