Science Focus Analysis of nearly one million Danish health records has found patients who tested positive for COVID-19 were subsequently more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and stroke.
COVID-19 could be linked to an increased risk of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, a study carried out at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, has found.
The researchers statistically analysed records taken from both in- and outpatients in Denmark shortly after the coronavirus pandemic struck between February 2020 and November 2021.
Of the 919,731 patients that tested for COVID-19, they found that the 43,375 who tested positive had a 3.5 times increased risk of being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, 2.6 times with Parkinson’s disease, 2.7 times with stroke and a 4.8 times increased risk of with suffering from bleeding in the brain.
The increase in risk of neurological diseases was comparable to patients who had contracted influenza or other respiratory illnesses, but COVID patients over the age of 80 were seen to have a 1.7 times increased risk of stroke compared to influenza and pneumonia patients.
“More than two years after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the precise nature and evolution of the effects of COVID-19 on neurological disorders remained uncharacterised,” said lead author Dr Pardis Zarifkar, from the Department of Neurology, Rigshospitalet.