A new study found that those with dementia were more at risk of contracting COVID-19.
The study, which researchers at Case Western Reserve University conducted, reviewed electronic health records of 61.9 million adults in the U.S. and found the risk of contracting COVID-19 is twice as high for people with dementia than for those without it.
The study was published Tuesday in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
“On behalf of the millions of people living with Alzheimer’s and other dementia that we represent, these preliminary findings suggest a frightening reality of the vulnerabilities associated with dementia,” said Maria Carrillo, Ph.D., Alzheimer’s Association chief science officer in a news release. “It is critical we develop and implement strategies that strike a balance between keeping people, especially long-term care residents, safe from COVID-19 but also protecting them from health-related harms associated with social isolation.”
The study also found that those with dementia, including Blacks, had three times the risk of being infected with the coronavirus than Caucasians.
The findings also suggested that the mortality risk for patients with COVID-19 was 5.64%, while the mortality rate for those with dementia jumped to 20.99%.
The hospitalization risk for those without the cognitive disease that had COVID-19 was 25.17%, but those who had COVID and dementia doubled to 59.25%.
