Older adults infected with COVID-19 might be at higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease: Study

Health

A research found that older people infected with COVID-19 had a considerably increased chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease within a year—up to 50% to 80% higher than a control group.

Researchers report today in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease that adults 65 and older who caught COVID-19 were more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease in the year following their COVID diagnosis.

Women above the age of 85 were found to be most at danger. The researchers discovered that after being infected with COVID for a year, the probability of acquiring Alzheimer’s disease virtually quadrupled (0.35% to 0.68%). According to the researchers, it is uncertain if COVID-19 initiates or accelerates the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

“The factors that play into the development of Alzheimer’s disease have been poorly understood, but two pieces considered important are prior infections, especially viral infections, and inflammation,” said Pamela Davis, Distinguished University Professor and The Arline H. and Curtis F. Garvin Research Professor at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, the study’s coauthor.

“Since infection with SARS-CoV2 has been associated with central nervous system abnormalities including inflammation, we wanted to test whether, even in the short term, COVID could lead to increased diagnoses,” she said.

The research team analyzed the anonymous electronic health records of 6.2 million adults 65 and older in the United States who received medical treatment between February 2020 and May 2021 and had no prior diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.

They then divided this population two groups: one composed of people who contracted COVID-19 during that period, and another with people who had no documented cases of COVID-19. More than 400,000 people were enrolled in the COVID study group, while 5.8 million were in the non-infected group.

“If this increase in new diagnoses of Alzheimer’s disease is sustained, the wave of patients with a disease currently without a cure will be substantial, and could further strain our long-term care resources,” Davis said.

“Alzheimer’s disease is a serious and challenging disease, and we thought we had turned some of the tide on it by reducing general risk factors such as hypertension, heart disease, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle. Now, so many people in the U.S. have had COVID and the long-term consequences of COVID are still emerging. It is important to continue to monitor the impact of this disease on future disability.”

The study’s corresponding author, Rong Xu, professor of Biomedical Informatics at the School of Medicine and director of the Center for AI in Drug Discovery, stated that the team intends to continue researching the effects of COVID-19 on Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders—particularly which subpopulations may be more vulnerable—as well as the potential to repurpose FDA-approved drugs to treat COVID’s long-term effects.

Previous COVID-related research done by CWRU discovered that persons with dementia are twice as likely to develop COVID; those with drug misuse disorder orders are more likely to contract COVID; and 5% of those using Paxlovid for COVID symptoms suffered rebound infections within a month.

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