Association Between Cytomegalovirus Disease and Dementia: A Population-Based Cohort Study

Abstract

Background The association between human cytomegalovirus (CMV) and dementia remains controversial. Previous studies have suggested that CMV serostatus assessed by serum immunoglobulin G plays a role in neurodegeneration with cognitive impairment. We aimed to evaluate the association between CMV tissue-invasive diseases and vascular dementia (VD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD).MethodsThe International Classification of Diseases (ICD) 10th revision codes from the National Health Insurance Database covering entire people in Republic of Korea were used to classify patients: case group (n = 687), age ≥40 years with CMV tissue-invasive end-organ disease and control group (n = 3,435), without CMV disease, matched by age and sex (ratio, 1:5). The case and control subjects selected during 2010–2014 with a washout period of the previous 4 years were followed-up until December 2016.ResultsThe multivariate regression model adjusted for age and sex showed a significantly higher incidence of dementia (odds ratio [OR], 2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.5–3.1) in the case group. The risk of VD (OR, 3.3; 95% CI, 1.3–8.4) was higher than that of AD (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1–2.8) in the case group. In age subgroup analysis adjusted for sex, patients aged 40–59 years with CMV disease had a significantly higher risk of all kinds of dementia than those aged 60-79 and ≥80 years (OR, 12.6; 95% CI, 3.3–48.8 vs. OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.3–3.4 vs. OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 0.7–2.9; P=0.021).Conclusions CMV disease may be associated with the risk of VD.