Abu Baker Sheikh

Previous studies have convincingly demonstrated the negative impact of dementia on overall health outcomes. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is burgeoning evidence suggesting a possible association between dementia and adverse outcomes, however the relationship has not been conclusively established. We conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 816,960 hospitalized COVID-19 patients aged 65 or older from the 2020 national inpatient sample. The cohort was bifurcated into patients with dementia (n = 180,845) and those without (n = 636,115). Multivariate regression and propensity score matched analyses (PSM) assessed in-hospital mortality and complications. We observed that COVID-19 patients with dementia had a notably higher risk of in-hospital mortality (23.1% vs. 18.6%; aOR = 1.2 [95% CI 1.1–1.2]). This elevated risk persisted even after PSM. Interestingly, dementia patients had a reduced risk of several acute in-hospital complications, including liver failure and sudden cardiac arrest. Nevertheless, they had longer hospital stays and lower total hospital charges. Our findings conclusively demonstrate that dementia patients face a heightened risk of mortality when hospitalized with COVID-19 but are less likely to experience certain complications. This complexity underscores the urgent need for individualized care strategies for this vulnerable group.

Long-term effects of COVID-19 are becoming more apparent even as the severity of acute infection is decreasing due to vaccinations and treatment. In this scoping review, we explored the current literature for the relationship between COVID-19 infection and new-onset diabetes mellitus four weeks after acute infection. We systematically searched the peer-reviewed literature published in English between 1 January 2020 and 31 August 2022 to study the risk of new-onset diabetes mellitus post-COVID-19 infection. This scoping review yielded 11 articles based on our inclusion and exclusion criteria. Except for one, all studies suggested an increased risk of new-onset diabetes mellitus 4 weeks after acute infection. This risk appears most in the first six months after the acute COVID-19 infection and seems to increase in a graded fashion based on the severity of the initial COVID-19 infection. Our review suggests a possible association of new-onset diabetes mellitus 4 weeks after acute COVID-19 infection. Since the severity of COVID-19 infection is associated with the development of post-infectious diabetes, vaccination that reduces the severity of acute COVID-19 infection might help to reduce the risk of post-COVID-19 diabetes mellitus. More studies are needed to better understand and quantify the association of post-COVID-19 conditions with diabetes and the role of vaccination in influencing it.