THE USE AND COST OF COMMUNITY CARE SERVICES BY ELDERS WITH UNIMPAIREDCOGNITIVE FUNCTION, WITH COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT NO DEMENTIA AND WITH DEMENTIA

Data from the Manitoba Study of Health and Aging were used to compare the utilization and direct costs of formal community care services amo ng the elderly diagnosed as persons with no cognitive impairment, with cognitive impairment/no dementia and with dementia. The results of th e analyses indicate that, in addition to living arrangement and limita tion on basic and instrumental activities of daily living, mental func tion diagnosis is an independent predictor of community care use. A di agnosis of dementia increases the likelihood of community care use ove r those with unimpaired mental functioning, whereas cognitive impairme nt without dementia does not. The three diagnostic groups differ in th e type of services used. Standardization by age, sex and the other var iables which significantly affect the need for community care can help a program improve its ability to project realistic cost estimates.