Elderly people who are sick COVID-19 show a significantly increased risk of developing the disease Alzheimer’s disease over the next year, as a new major American scientific research work.

Researchers led by Professors Pamela Davis and Curtis Garvin of the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Ohio, who published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, analyzed data from 2020-2021 for about 6.2 million people over 65, none of whom had was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at the start of the study. These people were divided into two groups: those who had coronavirus (about 400 thousand) and those who did not have Covid-19 (5.8 million people who made up the control group).

It found that those who had a Covid-19 infection were 50-80% more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s within the next year. The risk is higher in women over 85 years of age. The researchers said it is not clear to what extent Covid-19 can trigger Alzheimer’s disease or simply accelerate its development.

“Factors that play a role in causing Alzheimer’s disease are not well understood. However, two of them are considered important: past infections and inflammation,” said Dr. Davis. “If this observed upward trend in new Alzheimer’s diagnoses continues, the expected surge in patients with terminal illness will be significant given that so many people have recovered from Covid-19 and the long-term effects of this infection are now slowly emerging.” he added.

Previous research has shown that people with dementia are twice as likely to contract Covid-19.

^{Source: APE-MEB}