SynthesisJournal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD2020
Common Bacterial Infections and Risk of Dementia or Cognitive Decline: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 39 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- Does pneumonia increase the risk of dementia and cognitive decline? A systematic review and meta-analysis.Annals of medicine · 2025Pooled it
- Hospitalization with infections and risk of Dementia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Aging · 2025Pooled it
- Herpes zoster vaccination and the risk of dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Brain and behavior · 2024Pooled it
- Adult Vaccination as a Protective Factor for Dementia: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review of Population-Based Observational Studies.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Pooled it
- Association between microbiological risk factors and neurodegenerative disorders: An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Risk of Dementia or Cognitive Impairment in Sepsis Survivals: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2022Pooled it
- Morbidity and medication use preceding a diagnosis of late-onset Alzheimer's disease: a Danish nationwide study.Journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Uncovering the invisible giant: Amyloid beta plaques and their proposed association with waste removal in Alzheimer-affected human hippocampus.Research square · 2026Article
- The role of noninfectious comorbidities in the association between severe infections and risk of dementia in Finland: A nationwide registry study.PLoS medicine · 2026Article
- Identifying Alzheimer's Disease Progression Subphenotypes Via a Graph-based Framework Using Electronic Health Records.Journal of healthcare informatics research · 2026Article
- Identification of Chlamydia pneumoniae and NLRP3 inflammasome activation in Alzheimer's disease retina.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Infection trajectories and dementia risk in type 2 diabetes.Diabetology & metabolic syndrome · 2026Article
- Helicobacter pylori infection, atrophic gastritis, and disabling dementia: the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2026Article
- Recent Advances and Future Directions in Alzheimer's Disease Genetic Research.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Gaps in dementia knowledge: a nationwide study of public awareness and misconceptions in Bulgaria.Psychogeriatrics : the official journal of the Japanese Psychogeriatric Society · 2025Article
- Postoperative sepsis and its sequential impact on dementia.Critical care (London, England) · 2025Article
- Risk of Developing Alzheimer Disease in Relation to Common Infections.Neuro-degenerative diseases · 2025Article
- Article
- Infectious Disease as a Modifiable Risk Factor for Dementia: A Narrative Review.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBacterial infections may be associated with dementia, but the temporality of any relationship remains unclear.
objectivesTo summarize existing literature on the association between common bacterial infections and the risk of dementia and cognitive decline in longitudinal studies.
methodsWe performed a comprehensive search of 10 databases of published and grey literature from inception to 18 March 2019 using search terms for common bacterial infections, dementia, cognitive decline, and longitudinal study designs. Two reviewers independently performed the study selection, data extraction, risk of bias and overall quality assessment. Data were summarized through a narrative synthesis as high heterogeneity precluded a meta-analysis.
resultsWe identified 3,488 studies. 9 met the eligibility criteria; 6 were conducted in the United States and 3 in Taiwan. 7 studies reported on dementia and 2 investigated cognitive decline. Multiple infections were assessed in two studies. All studies found sepsis (n = 6), pneumonia (n = 3), urinary tract infection (n = 1), and cellulitis (n = 1) increased dementia risk (HR 1.10; 95% CI 1.02-1.19) to (OR 2.60; 95% CI 1.84-3.66). The range of effect estimates was similar when limited to three studies with no domains at high risk of bias. However, the overall quality of evidence was rated very low. Studies on cognitive decline found no association with infection but had low power.
conclusionOur review suggests common bacterial infections may be associated with an increased risk of subsequent dementia, after adjustment for multiple confounders, but further high-quality, large-scale longitudinal studies, across different healthcare settings, are recommended to further explore this association.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.