People over 65 who have had Covid are 80 percent more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease within a year of being infected, a new study reveals.
Those who fall within this age range have been found to be 50 to 80 percent more likely to develop the form of dementia than those who have not had the virus.
The findings show that the risk of Alzheimer’s disease nearly doubled from 0.35 percent to 0.68 percent in the elderly in the year after their diagnosis.
The researchers are still unclear whether the coronavirus is causing a new development of Alzheimer’s disease or accelerating its emergence.
The research team analyzed the anonymous health records of 6.2 million adults ages 65 and older in the United States who received medical treatment between February 2020 and May 2021.
The data from those they examined had no previous diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.
The researchers divided the people into two groups. Those who had previously contracted Covid were placed in one group, while those who had no documented cases of the virus were separated into another.
There were more than 400,000 people in the group who had had Covid and 5.8 million in the others.
Dr Pamela Davis, a research professor at the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, and co-author of the study, said: “The factors involved in the development of Alzheimer’s disease are poorly understood, but two important issues are infections, especially viral infections and inflammation.
“Since Sars-CoV2 infection has been associated with central nervous system abnormalities, including inflammation, we wanted to test whether Covid, even in the short term, could lead to increased diagnoses.”
dr. Davis added: “If this increase in new Alzheimer’s diagnoses continues, the surge in patients with disease that is currently not cured will be significant and further strain our long-term care resources.
“Alzheimer’s disease is a serious and challenging disease, and we thought we had turned some of the tide by reducing common risk factors such as hypertension, heart disease, obesity and a sedentary lifestyle.
“Now so many people in the US have had Covid and the long-term effects of Covid are still emerging. It is important to continue monitoring the impact of this disease on future disability.”
The team plans to continue studying the effects of Covid on Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
They also want to target people who may be more vulnerable and find ways to reuse FDA-approved drugs to treat the long-term effects of Covid.
The results have been published in the Alzheimer’s Journal.
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