Cognitive impairment (CI) poses a large economic burden on the US health care system, but little is known about how CI impacts health care (HC) utilization and medical expenditures among people with diabetes. Using data from the 2016-20Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, we quantified the incremental HC utilization and medical expenditures associated with CI among adults aged ≥ 60 years with diabetes. Diabetes status was based on self-report. Participants who reported having difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions were defined as having CI. We used negative binomial regressions to model the number of ambulatory visits, prescriptions, and home health care days; logistic regressions to model the probabilities of ER visits and hospital admissions; and gamma regressions to model medical expenditures in total and by category. All models were adjusted for age, sex, race and ethnicity, income, education, and comorbidities. We included 6,714 adults ≥ 60 years with diabetes, of which 1,025 (15.27%) had CI. CI was associated with additional ambulatory visits (+4.7 [95% CI, 3.5-5.8]) , drug prescriptions (+10.6 [8.1-13.1]) , and home health care days (+32.6 [19.2-52.2]) ; and higher odds of ER visits (Odds Ratio (OR) : 1.55 [95% CI, 1.27-1.89]) and hospital admissions (OR: 1.27 [1.02-1.58]) . CI was also associated with additional expenditures for outpatient care (+$12[$731-$1720], or 28% higher than those without CI [17%-40%]) , prescription drugs (+$17[$1103-$2372], or 31% higher [20%-43%]) , and home health care (+$25[$445-$7060], or 197% higher [35%-555%]) . Overall, those with CI spent$70[$5168-$8835], or 42% [31%-53%] more than those without CI. All p < 0.05. CI is associated with higher HC utilization and medical expenditures among older adults with diabetes. Early detection of CI and additional assistance to those with CI may lower CI-related HC utilization and expenditure in this population.

Disclosure

D.Guan: None. P.Zhang: None. S.Tang: None. J.D.Brown: None. R.R.Fang: None. J.Guo: None. Y.Zhang: None. H.Shao: Board Member; BRAVO4HEALTH, LLC.

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