Adults aged 65 years and older with COVID-19 infection have an increased risk for developing new-onset Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Lindsey Wang, from the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, and colleagues examined the potential association between SARS-CoV-2 infection and the risk for Alzheimer’s disease in a retrospective cohort study of 6,245,282 older adults (aged 65 years and older) with medical encounters between February 2020 and May 2021.

The researchers found that people with COVID-19 had an increased risk for a new diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease within 360 days after the initial diagnosis of COVID-19 (hazard ratio, 1.69).

Increased risk was seen in patients stratified by age group, gender, and race or ethnicity; risk was highest for those aged 85 years or older and for women (hazard ratios, 1.89 and 1.82, respectively).