Association of Alzheimer’s Disease with COVID-19 Susceptibility and Severe Complications: A Nationwide Cohort Study

Background: Identification of patients at high susceptibility and high risk of developing serious complications related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection is clinically important in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Objective: To investigate whether patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are more susceptible to COVID-19 infection and whether they have a higher risk of developing serious complications. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the Korean nationwide population-based COVID-19 dataset for participants who underwent real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assays for COVID-19 between January 1 and June 4, 2020. A 1 : 3 ratio propensity score matching and binary logistic regression analysis were performed to investigate the association between AD and the susceptibility or severe complications (i.e., mechanical ventilation, intensive care unit admission, or death) of COVID-19. Results: Among 195,643 study participants, 5,725 participants had AD and 7,334 participants were diagnosed with COVID-19. The prevalence of participants testing positive for COVID-19 did not differ according to the presence of AD (p = 0.234). Meanwhile, AD was associated with an increased risk of severe COVID-19 complications (OR 2.25 [95% CI 1.54–3.28]). Secondary outcome analyses showed that AD patients had an increased risk for mortality (OR 3.09 [95% CI 2.00–4.78]) but were less likely to receive mechanical ventilation (OR 0.42 [95% CI 0.20–0.87]). Conclusion: AD was not associated with increased susceptibility to COVID-19 infection, but was associated with severe COVID-19 complications, especially with mortality. Early diagnosis and active intervention are necessary for patients with AD suspected COVID-19 infection.