A new study in JAMA Neurology found that excess deaths — more than the normal number — among people with Alzheimer’s and dementia in nursing homes declined significantly during the second year of the pandemic. Meanwhile, excess deaths among people with dementia at home and in medical facilities remained high in the second year.
Researchers aren’t sure if deaths related to Alzheimer’s disease or dementia declined in the second year due to preventive actions, more testing or the introduction of vaccines. But there were declines during the second year across the board regardless of age, sex, or race and ethnicity.
Researchers looked at data from 2,334,101 death certificates. They found 94,688 excess deaths in people with Alzheimer’s and dementia in the first year (March 2020 to February 2021), and 21,586 excess deaths in the second year (March 2021 through February 2022). Excess deaths went down 77% from the first year to the second, the data showed.
In the first year, 509,179 people over 65 died from Alzheimer’s and dementia-related causes. Before the pandemic, there were 414,491 deaths. In the second year, the number of Alzheimer’s and dementia-related deaths fell in people with and without COVID-19.
During the start of the pandemic, excess deaths disproportionately affected older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in long-term care facilities likely because many of the people had comorbidities. Other factors the researchers noted included being isolated from family members and other essential caregivers, challenges with infection prevention and control as well as staffing shortages.
The high levels of people who had deaths related to Alzheimer’s disease or dementia at home indicates that people with the diseases may not have benefitted from preventive measures. They may have been more apt to delay care than those in facilities.
The scientists noted disparities based on sex, race, and ethnicity when it came to excess deaths in people with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. In fact, there were more excess deaths in females compared to men, and in non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic people compared to non-Hispanic white people.
