Takeaway
- All-cause dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are risk factors for disease severity and death in patients with COVID-19, independent of their age.
Why this matters
- Findings highlight all-cause dementia or AD as targets for rigorous preventive measures, improved surveillance and early intervention in patients with COVID-19.
Study design
- The study included 12,863 community-dwelling participants (age, >65 years) from the UK Biobank who were tested for COVID-19.
- All participants were categorised into 3 age groups:
- 66-74 years (n=6182);
- 75-79 years (n=4867); and
- 80-86 years (n=1814).
- Funding: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro and others.
Key results
- Of 12,863 participants, 1167 tested positive for COVID-19 and 11,696 tested negative.
- The overall risk of COVID-19-positive diagnosis increased with (OR; 95% CI):
- all-cause dementia (3.412; 2.234-5.213);
- AD (5.700; 3.709-8.762); and
- Parkinson’s disease (PD; 2.242; 1.511-3.328; P<.001 for all).
- Only all-cause dementia (OR, 5.837; 95% CI, 3.386-9.880) and AD (OR, 6.551; 95% CI, 2.892-14.398; P<.001 for both) were associated with a higher risk of COVID-19-positive diagnosis in individuals aged ≥80 years.
- The risk of COVID-19-related hospitalisation increased with (OR; 95% CI):
- all-cause dementia (3.929; 2.650-5.772; P<.001);
- AD (5.789; 3.088-10.856; P<.001); and
- PD (2.001; 1.240-3.127; P=.003).
- All-cause dementia (OR, 2.172; 95% CI, 1.231-3.900; P=.008) and AD (OR, 2.766; 95% CI, 1.123-7.420; P=.032) increased the risk of COVID-19-related death.
- All-cause dementia was uniquely associated with an increased risk of COVID-19-related death in individuals aged ≥80 years (OR, 3.544; 95% CI, 1.236-11.634; P=.024).
Limitations
- Total number of COVID-19 cases in the study cohort was limited.
This clinical summary originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.