The Experience of The COVID-19 Pandemic in a Population-Based Study of Cognitive Aging
Khaled Ghoniem1, Jeremiah Aakre2, Anna Castillo2, Mohamed Elminawy1, Mary Machulda3, Yonas Geda5, Prashanthi Vemuri4, Clifford Jack4, Jonathan Graff- Radford1, David Knopman1, Ronald Petersen1, Maria Vassilaki2
1Department of Neurology, 2Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, 3Department of Psychiatry and Psychology, 4Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, 5Department of Neurology, Barrow Neurological Institute
Objective:
To describe the COVID-19 pandemic experience (i.e., testing, infections, hospitalizations, patient characteristics) in participants of the population-based Mayo Clinic Study of Aging.
Background:
Older adults are at higher risk of worse outcomes following COVID-19 infection, especially those with comorbidities, including cognitive impairment
Design/Methods:
In a cohort of 4429 MCSA participants, we retrieved COVID-19 testing from March 2020 to September 2022 using the Rochester Epidemiology Project resources. In addition, we assessed “severe infection,” defined as hospitalization within 7 days before to 3 months after a positive test. All participants undergo a comprehensive cognitive evaluation in MCSA at every visit. Chi-squared tests and t-tests for two samples with equal variances were used to compare groups
Results:
3399 (76.7%) participants were ever tested for COVID-19 infection, and 956 (mean age (SD) at first positive test: 71.3 (15.5) years; 51.3% male) tested positive. Participants who underwent testing (ever vs. never tested) were on average older, with higher body mass index (BMI), higher Charlson comorbidity index (CCI), and were more likely to be retired. Participants who tested positive (vs. negative) were on average younger, less likely to have cognitive impairment or be retired and had lower CCI. Participants with “severe infection” (N=212 (22.2%); vs. not “severe”) were on average significantly older, more likely to have cognitive impairment, higher CCI, higher national Area Deprivation Index ranking, fewer years of education and were more likely to be retired
Conclusions:
MCSA participants who tested positive were more likely to be younger and not cognitively impaired while those with severe infections were likely to be older and cognitively impaired. Our findings from a population-based study add to accumulating knowledge that suggests the importance of age and cognitive impairment for COVID-19 severe infection, eliminating reporting bias. Findings underscore valuable information to consider in future pandemic prevention interventions