Study: People With Dementia Are More Likely to Get Covid-19

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• A large US study showed that white people with dementia are twice as likely to contract Covid-19
• Case Western Reserve University researchers wrote that their resilience to infections may be decreased by cognitive impairment and a “frailty element”.
• Black people with dementia even posted higher risks, with three times as likely as white people with dementia to get infected with the virus.

A major study that analyzed nearly 61.9 million health records of people from various hospitals across the US found that people with dementia are twice as likely to get infected with the coronavirus, and more likely to get hospitalized and die from it.  

The study, which stemmed from speculations about whether people with dementia have higher chances of Covid-19 infections, was conducted by Case Western Reserve University researchers.

Even after adjusting for general demographic factors such as age, sex and race, people with dementia were found to have had over three times the risk of getting Covid-19. And despite taking into account Covid-specific risk factors like living in nursing homes and underlying medical conditions, still, they were twice as likely to contract the virus.

According to Dr. Kristine Yaffe, of the University of California, San Francisco, who was not involved in the study, the study seems to suggest that having dementia makes you more vulnerable to the coronavirus.

The study authors say the reason behind this vulnerability may be due to cognitive and physiological factors.

“There is the cognitive impairment and the fact that they are more socially at risk,” said Dr. Kenneth Langa, of the University of Michigan, who was not involved in the study.

Dr. Yaffe also noted that a “frailty element” including a lack of mobility and reduced muscle tone could negatively impact their resilience to infections.

Because the Covid-19 infection is linked with inflammation known to affect aspects of the circulatory system, Maria Carrillo, chief science officer of the Alzheimer’s Association, said it’s possible that infections may worsen vascular impairment, which commonly occurs among people with dementia.

Another significant finding is that Black people with dementia were at an even greater risk. They were shown to have almost three times as likely as white people with dementia to contract the virus.

Without adjusting for factors like age or underlying conditions, the risk of hospitalization and death for Covid patients with dementia is 2.6 times as likely during the first six months of the pandemic, and 4.4 times as likely to die. For Black people with dementia and Covid-19, they are more likely to be hospitalized than white people who had both diseases.

“This study highlights the need to protect patients with dementia, especially those who are Black,” wrote the authors.

One study limitation however was the lack of access to socioeconomic data, which could have provided more understanding of the risk factors of patients as well as insufficient data about poorer patients who haven’t interacted with doctors. 

Source: New York Times