Common bacterial infections and risk of incident cognitive decline or dementia: a systematic review protocol
Open accessAbstract
INTRODUCTION: The global burden of dementia is rising, emphasising the urgent need to develop effective approaches to risk reduction. Recent evidence suggests that common bacterial infections may increase the risk of dementia, however the magnitude and timing of the association as well as the patient groups affected remains unclear. We will review existing evidence of the association between common bacterial infections and incident cognitive decline or dementia. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: We will conduct a comprehensive search of published and grey literature from inception to 18 March 2019. The following electronic databases will be searched; MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global health, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Open Grey and the British Library of Electronic Theses databases. There will be no restrictions on the date, language or geographical location of the studies. We will include longitudinal studies with a common clinically symptomatic bacterial infection as an exposure and incident cognitive decline or dementia as an outcome. Study selection, data extraction and risk of bias will be performed independently by two researchers. We will assess the risk of bias using the Cochrane collaboration approach. The overall quality of the studies will be assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations criteria. We will explore the heterogeneity of relevant studies and, if feasible, a meta-analysis will be performed, otherwise we will present a narrative synthesis. We will group the results by exposure and outcome definitions and differences will be described by subgroups and outcomes. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval will not be required as this is a systematic review of existing research in the public domain. Results will be disseminated in a peer-reviewed journal and presented at national and international meetings and conferences. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42018119294.
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Both bacterial and viral infections have been associated with cognitive impairment and functional decline in humans.
“Unsurprisingly, both bacterial and viral infections have been associated with cognitive impairment and functional decline in humans (451–453).”
From Signalling cognition: The gut microbiota and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (2023) · cites this paper as [452]
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- Authors
- Muzambi, R., Bhaskaran, K., Brayne, C., Smeeth, L., & Warren-Gash, C.
- Affiliations
- London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (GB)
- University of Cambridge (GB)
- Non-communicable Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
- Corresponding author
- Muzambi, Rutendo
- Venue
- BMJ Open
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2019-09
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- e030874
- ISSN
- 2044-6055 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6747671
- OpenAlex
- W2972640964
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 48
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 0.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- BMJ Open (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (acceptedVersion)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (acceptedVersion)
- LSHTM Research Online (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Alzheimer's Society (379 (AS-PhD-17-013))
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Microbiology › Bacterial Infections and Vaccines
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine › Intensive Care Unit Cognitive Disorders
- Keywords
- bacterial infection, cognitive decline, dementia, dementia risk factors, incident dementia
- MeSH terms
- Systematic Reviews as Topic, Bacterial Infections, Dementia, Humans, Research Design, Risk Factors, Cognitive Dysfunction
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