Dementia Doubles COVID-19 Risk in US Adults

People with dementia have double the risk of contracting COVID-19, and have higher hospitalization and mortality rates when they do get the virus, compared with those without dementia, according to a study published online in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

“Our results emphasize how important it is to protect those with dementia from acquiring SARS-CoV2, for they are at higher risk for severe disease than those without dementia,” said study co-author Pamela Davis, MD, PhD, dean emerita of the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio. “These patients may constitute another vulnerable category. However, more work is required to understand the mechanism by which this occurs.”

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University reviewed electronic health records for 61.9 million adults from 360 hospitals across the United States. More than 1 million of the patients in the study had dementia, 15,770 had COVID-19, and 810 had both dementia and COVID-19.

Three Molecular Subtypes of Alzheimer’s Disease Identified

Overall, the odds of getting COVID-19 were twice as high for patients with dementia, compared with those without dementia, according to the study. People with vascular dementia had the highest risk, followed by presenile dementia, senile dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and post-traumatic dementia.

Researchers found a 25.17% risk of hospitalization over 6 months for adults with COVID-19 in the study. However, those with both COVID-19 and dementia had a 59.26% hospitalization risk. Similarly, the 6-month mortality risk was 5.64% for adults with COVID-19 overall; but among those with dementia, it was 20.99%.

Among patients with dementia, black people had higher COVID-19 risks than white people. They had nearly 3 times higher risk of contracting COVID-19, a 73.08% risk of hospitalization (compared with 53.85% among white people), and a 23.08% risk of death (compared with 19.23% among white people).

“This study highlights the need to protect patients with dementia, especially those who are black, as part of the strategy to control the pandemic,” researchers wrote.

—Jolynn Tumolo 

References

Wang Q, Davis PB, Gurney ME, Xu R. COVID-19 and dementia: analyses of risk, disparity, and outcomes from electronic health records in the US. Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association. 2021 February 9;[Epub ahead of print].

Case Western Reserve-led team finds that people with dementia at higher risk for COVID-19 [press release]. Cleveland, Ohio: Case Western Reserve University; February 10, 2021.