A study of more than 53,000 adults in Wales found that people who had a bloodstream infection were more likely to develop dementia over the following decade compared to similar adults who never had one.
Dementia affects millions of people worldwide, and there are still no treatments that can stop or reverse the disease. Researchers continue to search for lifestyle and health factors that may lower risk. New research points to one factor that often goes unnoticed: severe bloodstream infections.
The findings do not prove that infections cause dementia. But they add to growing evidence that severe infections, and the inflammation they trigger, may have lasting effects on brain health.
About the study
Researchers in Wales drew from a population of 2.5 million people to identify 26,792 individuals who had a confirmed bloodstream infection. They matched each person one-to-one with someone who had not had such an infection. Both groups were followed for up to 10 years to see who developed dementia.
Bloodstream infections, where bacteria enter the bloodstream directly, are already known to cause acute cognitive effects like delirium. But their long-term impact on brain health has been less studied.
Higher dementia rates after infection
People who had a bloodstream infection developed dementia at a significantly higher rate than matched controls. Ten years after infection, bloodstream infections were linked to about 160 additional dementia cases per 1,000 people compared to those without an infection.
The same increase was not seen among people hospitalized for knee replacement surgery. This suggests the elevated risk was not simply due to being hospitalized or having a major medical event.
Researchers did observe a small increase in lung cancer risk after bloodstream infections, indicating some residual confounding may still exist. However, that increase was much smaller than the dementia association, suggesting it likely does not fully explain the findings.
How severe infections may affect the brain
This study should not cause alarm. Bloodstream infections are relatively uncommon, and most people who experience one will not necessarily develop dementia. Instead, the findings reinforce that protecting overall health may also protect the brain.
Preventing infections through everyday habits, such as staying up to date on recommended vaccines, practicing good hand hygiene, promptly treating infections, and managing chronic conditions, may have benefits that extend beyond short-term health.
Researchers say future studies should investigate whether preventing or aggressively treating severe infections could become another strategy for reducing dementia risk.
This study is observational, meaning it shows a connection rather than direct cause and effect. But the signal is strong, the mechanism is plausible, and the research is building. Bloodstream infections may be one of the more overlooked factors in long-term dementia risk.
