Background: Sepsis, the result of septicemia, has been demonstrated to have a link to brain dysfunctions and degeneration. However, the role of septicemia in the development of dementia remains sketchy in a long-term setting.
Objectives: To investigate whether septicemia, a potential cause of sepsis, increases risk of vascular dementia.
Methods: We used the database from National Health Insurance program which represents 99% of the population in Taiwan, to explore whether a history of septicemia is associated with subsequent increase in the risk of developing vascular dementia. All patients with septicemia hospitalized for the first time from 2001 to 2011 without prior dementia were included. The development of vascular dementia in relation to the development of septicemia for each patient was recorded. An age- and sex-matched cohort without septicemia and without prior dementia served as the control.
Results: A total of 20,466 patients with septicemia and 40,932 age- and sex-matched controls for comparison were included in this observational cohort study. The hazard ratio of vascular dementia (2.26, 95% CI: 2.07–2.47, p<0.001) is significantly higher in the septicemia than the comparison cohort. There was an increasing trend for developing dementia with increasing severity of septicemia based on hospitalization length (p for trend <0.0001).
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that septicemia is associated with an increased risk in developing vascular dementia. Patients who had experienced higher severity of septicemia had a greater risk of developing vascular dementia.

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN SEPTICEMIA AND VASCULAR DEMENTIA: A NATION-WIDE POPULATION-BASED STUDY