Medical - global

Excess Deaths Twice as High for Dementia Patients During Pandemic COVID's indirect effects may have affected people with Alzheimer's and dementia more Judy George medpagetoday

Excess mortality was twice as high for older adults with dementia in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic than it was for those without dementia, an analysis of all Medicare enrollees showed.

From March through December 2020, adjusted mortality was 25.7% higher (95% CI 25.3-26.2) among older adults with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias than it was during a similar period in 2019, reported Lauren Gilstrap, MD, MPH, of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, and co-authors.

Pfizer Covid vaccine is less effective in kids 5 to 11, study finds New data suggest the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine works substantially less well at preventing infection and hospitalizations in kids 5 to 11. Helen Branswell STAT

Newly emerging data suggest the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid vaccine works substantially less well at preventing infection and hospitalizations in children aged 5 to 11 than it does in those aged 12 to 17 — a finding that is raising questions about whether the companies chose the wrong dose for the younger children.