Dementia as a mortality predictor among older adults with COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis of observational study.
Ita Daryanti Saragih, Ice Septriani Saragih, Sakti Oktaria Batubara and 1 others
PMID 33824009WHAT IT FOUND
Among older adults with COVID-19, dementia was linked to much higher death risk than in older adults without dementia.
This was a pooled review of existing studies, not a trial of any treatment.
Key findings
01The pooled analysis found higher odds of death in older adults with dementia than in those without dementia (odds ratio 2.96; 95% CI 2.00-4.38).
02The pooled prevalence of death was 39% among older adults with dementia and 20% among those without dementia.
03The review included 27,952 confirmed COVID-19 patients across 15 studies.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The review included only studies published in English, so studies in other languages were omitted. Dementia was defined differently across studies, mostly by clinical history and sometimes by rating scales or diagnostic codes. Not all studies reported the number of patients with dementia, and only some reported mortality prevalence among patients without dementia. Follow-up periods varied across studies. Some analyses showed funnel-plot asymmetry, although the trim-and-fill method suggested publication bias had a small influence. The included studies were observational, not trials, so they cannot show that dementia caused death.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that dementia caused the higher death rate. The included studies were observational, and dementia definitions varied across studies.