Table 3 Association of site and clinical setting of common infections with cognitive decline.

From: Are infections associated with cognitive decline and neuroimaging outcomes? A historical cohort study using data from the UK Biobank study linked to electronic health records

 

Minimally adjusted

Fully adjusted model

 

No. of participants

β (95% CI)

P value

No. of participants

β (95% CI)

P value

Mean correct response time (Difference in slope compared with no infection)

Site of infection

 No infection

13,707

Reference

 

13,275

Reference

 

 Any infection

2956

0.47 (−0.09 to 1.03)

0.10

2809

0.40 (−0.17 to 0.96)

0.17

 LRTIs

1682

0.50 (−0.21 to 1.22)

0.17

1598

0.34 (−0.39 to 1.07)

0.37

 UTIs

672

0.39 (−0.70 to 1.47)

0.49

636

0.57 (−0.54 to 1.68)

0.31

 SSTI

529

0.63 (−0.58 to 1.84)

0.31

507

0.53 (−0.70 to 1.75)

0.40

Clinical setting of infection

 No infection

13,906

Reference

 

13,463

Reference

 

 GP infection

2757

0.56 (−0.02 to 1.13)

0.06

2621

0.50 (−0.09 to 1.08)

0.10

 No infection

16,464

Reference

 

15,896

Reference

 

 Hospital-recorded infections

199

−0.62 (−2.50 to 1.27)

0.52

188

−0.83 (−2.76 to 1.09)

0.40

Visual memory (Difference in slope compared with no infection)

Site of infection

 No infection

11,873

Reference

 

11,481

Reference

 

 Any infection

2562

0.00 (−0.00 to 0.00)

0.73

2436

0.00036 (−0.0034 to 0.0041)

0.85

 LRTIs

1461

−0.0016 (−0.0063 to 0.00)

0.52

1387

−0.0015 (−0.0064 to 0.0033)

0.53

 UTIs

579

0.011 (0.0040 to 0.018)

0.002

548

0.011 (0.0037 to 0.018)

0.003

 SSTI

459

−0.0040 (−0.012 to 0.0040)

0.33

441

−0.0051 (−0.013 to 0.0030)

0.22

Clinical setting of infection

 No infection

12,041

Reference

 

11,639

Reference

 

 GP infection

2394

−0.00029 (−0.0041 to 0.0035)

0.88

2278

−0.00049 (−0.0044 to 0.0034)

0.80

 No infection

14,267

Reference

 

13,759

Reference

 

 Hospital-recorded infections

168

0.010 (−0.0024 to 0.022)

0.11

158

0.0089 (−0.0039 to 0.022)

0.17

Fluid intelligence (Difference in slope compared with no infection)

Site of infection

 No infection

4685

Reference

 

4673

Reference

 

 Any infection

1070

0.0063 (−0.010 to 0.023)

0.46

1066

0.0066 (−0.010 to 0.023)

0.44

 LRTIs

619

0.012 (−0.0091 to 0.033)

0.27

616

0.011 (−0.0092 to 0.033)

0.27

 UTIs

245

0.0083 (−0.025 to 0.041)

0.62

244

0.0086 (−0.024 to 0.042)

0.61

 SSTI

184

−0.018 (−0.055 to 0.019)

0.34

184

−0.0162 (−0.053 to 0.021)

0.39

Clinical setting

 No infection

4743

Reference

 

4731

Reference

 

 GP infection

1012

0.0051 (−0.012 to 0.022)

0.56

1008

0.0055 (−0.012 to 0.023)

0.53

 No infection

5697

Reference

 

5681

Reference

 

 Hospital-recorded infections

58

0.021 (−0.044 to 0.085)

0.53

58

0.020 (−0.044 to 0.084)

0.55

Prospective memory

No. of participants

OR (95% CI)

P value

No. of participants

OR (95% CI)

P value

Site of infection

 No infection

4174

Reference

 

4,083

Reference

 

 Any infection

926

0.83 (0.65 to 1.06)

0.14

894

0.88 (0.68 to 1.14)

0.33

 LRTIs

549

072 (0.54 to 0.97)

0.03

532

0.76 (0.56 to 1.03)

0.07

 UTIs

204

0.82 (0.51 to 1.33)

0.42

198

0.88 (0.53 to 1.46)

0.63

 SSTI

154

1.58 (0.77 to 3.26)

0.21

147

1.74 (0.80 to 3.75)

0.16

Clinical setting

 No infection

4221

Reference

 

4,127

Reference

 

 GP infection

879

0.82 (0.64 to 1.06)

0.13

850

0.88 (0.68 to 1.14)

0.33

 No infection

5053

Reference

 

4933

Reference

 

 Hospital infection

47

1.07 (0.38 to 2.99)

0.90

44

0.95 (0.34 to 2.69)

0.93

  1. Linear Mixed models results with random intercept and random slope. The associations of site of infection, GP infection and hospital infection were not assessed in the same model but rather in three separate models. For analyses on site of infections, sepsis and pneumonia were not included due to a small number of infections (23 and 45 participants, respectively). For mean correct response time, visual memory (log transformed) and fluid intelligence tests, minimally adjusted: age (years), sex, time, baseline test score and time × infection status interaction term which represents the rate of decline by presence of infection with the difference in slope compared to that of no infection (reference group). For mean correct response time, fully adjusted models additionally adjusted for ethnicity, BMI, years in full-time education, physical activity, alcohol consumption, diabetes, anxiety and depression, COPD, multiple sclerosis, hypertension and heart failure. For the visual memory test, fully adjusted models additionally adjusted for ethnicity, BMI, smoking status, socioeconomic deprivation, physical activity, alcohol frequency, years in full-time education, diabetes, anxiety and depression, COPD, hypertension, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, obstructive sleep apnoea, and multiple sclerosis. For the fluid intelligence test, fully adjusted models additionally included years in full-time education. For the prospective memory test logistic regression was performed and the estimates reported are odds ratios. Minimally adjusted models for this test include age (years) and sex and fully adjusted models additionally adjusted for physical activity in the fully adjusted models.
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