Seo Gi-hyeon’s HIRA team of judges, tracking and analyzing 426,282 elderly people aged 60 to 89
| A study found that Tsutsugamushi disease increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 15%. (Photo = DB) |
[메디컬투데이=이재혁 기자] Studies have shown that Tsutsugamushi disease increases the risk of Alzheimer’s disease by 15%. The risk of stroke, diabetes, central degenerative disease, and depressive disorder was greater in older adults who had had tsutsugamushi disease than in those who had not had tsutsugamushi disease.
This was revealed as a result of a recent analysis of 426,282 elderly people aged 60 to 89 who were registered in health insurance review and evaluation data between 2009 and 2018 by a team of judges from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, Seo Gi-hyeon, until the end 2020.
Tsutsugamushi disease is an infectious tick-borne disease that occurs in rural and urban areas. It is known to be particularly common among the elderly.
According to the research team, 53,425 (12.5%) of 426,282 elderly people were diagnosed with dementia during the study period, and the dementia diagnosis rate of elderly people with tsutsugamushi disease was 14.7%, which is higher than the rate of normal elderly without tsutsugamushi disease ( 12.1%).
In particular, they found that the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, a typical senile dementia, was 15% higher among the elderly with Tsutsugamushi disease than in those without.
Tsutsugamushi disease did not increase the risk of vascular dementia or other forms of dementia.
The prevalence of stroke, central degenerative disease, diabetes, and depressive disorder was 19.4%, 9.7%, 56.3%, and 28.6%, respectively, in the elderly with Tsutsugamushi disease. ) is higher than
Judge Seo said, “This study was initiated to find out whether Tsutsugamushi disease can attack the central nervous system and cause systemic vasculitis, thereby increasing the risk of dementia.” Therefore, the conclusion of this study is that there is a need to actively prevent and treat Tsutsugamushi disease to prevent dementia.”
Meanwhile, the results of this study (Association of scrub typhus with incidence of dementia: a national population-based cohort study in Korea, Association of scrub typhus with incidence of dementia: a national population-based cohort study in Korea) were published in a journal famous in the field of infectious diseases (BMC Infectious Diseases) published in a recent edition.
Correspondent Lee Jae-hyeok of Medical Today (dlwogur93@mdtoday.co.kr)
[저작권자ⓒ 메디컬투데이. 무단전재-재배포 금지]
