Researchers evaluated changes in mortality and mental and physical loss in people with dementia during the pandemic. There weren’t big changes in death, but loss rose after February 2020 — about the time the pandemic started.
The study, which was published April 5 in Scientific Reports, examined people from South Korea with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease who visited national medical facilities and received anti-dementia medication between February 2018 and January 2020.
People were put into two groups: 62,631 people were newly diagnosed with dementia between February 2018 and January 2019, and 54,494 who were diagnosed between February 2019 and January 2020. Investigators followed up on their records a year later. They tracked the first group from February 2019 to January 2020, and the second group from February 2020 to January 2021.
There wasn’t a significant difference in the mortality rate between the periods before and after February 2020. The loss significantly increased after February 2020, or in that second group. Loss includes factors like increased cognitive decline due to prolonged isolation, interrupted communication with caregivers they didn’t live with, lower accessibility to services, challenges in hospital visits, restriction of outdoor activity, and concerns about getting the virus that causes COVID-19.
There was a significant increase in loss in people who were newly diagnosed with dementia during the COVID-19 outbreak, from 42.04% in 2019 to 45.89% in 2020.
Factors not linked to increased loss were being female, younger, having fewer comorbidities, being diagnosed by a psychiatrist or neurologist in the national health system, and having higher income. About 80% of people studied were in the highest-income group. Living in a metropolitan area was tied with reduced loss.
“This study highlights the importance of paying extra attention to patients with dementia receiving anti-dementia medications, particularly during pandemics, given their increased risk of loss to follow-up,” the authors wrote.
