Study shows those with COVID-19 were at 'significantly' higher risk of Alzheimer's Disease

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A study of more than 6 million people aged 65 and older found that those with COVID-19 had a "significantly" higher risk of Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers said those who got COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic had a much higher risk of getting a new Alzheimer's diagnosis within a year. The study was published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

"We were a little bit surprised how much of an increased hazard there was for developing Alzheimer's disease in such a short period of time," said Dr. Pamela Davis, co-author of the study. "There are many possibilities. Of course, the one that's most worrisome is that COVID itself interacts with the brain and either accelerates or tips people over into a dementia kind of a profile."

Those studied who were women or older than 85 were more at-risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's. People would have to be followed for decades in order to definitively link COVID-19 as a cause of Alzheimer's Disease, a neurologist told CNN.