Causal effect of conventional anti-dementia drugs on economic burden: an orthogonal double/debiased machine learning approach

This study revealed the causal relationship between anti-dementia drug use and Medicare costs by employing DML. ChEIs were found to be contributors to the decreased Medicare costs and inpatient costs, which could mainly be attributed to donepezil. The use of donepezil should be expanded, considering the significant benefits. Furthermore, a lower OOP cap for ADRD beneficiaries should be established under the IRA.