Dementia Incidence Ascertainment Protocol

Dementia incidence was determined through the use of prescribed an antidementia drug (donepezil, galantamine, rivastigmine, or memantine) [22 (link)], with ICD-10 codes (F00, F01, F02, F03, or G30) used for the first or second diagnosis for medical expense claims submitted to the NHIS until the end of follow-up (31 December 2013) [23 (link), 24 (link)]. This definition of dementia incidence was applied to outpatients as well as to hospitalized patients. In Korea, it is required to fulfill KNHI reimbursement criteria to claim expenses. To submit a valid claim for the prescription of an antidementia drug, physicians need to document the evidence for cognitive dysfunction according to relatively strict criteria: (1) Mini Mental State Examination score ≤ 26 and (2) either a Clinical Dementia Rating ≥ 1 or a Global Deterioration Scale score ≥ 3 [25 ].