Associations between heart failure and risk of dementia: A PRISMA-compliant meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: There are differences among the outcomes regarding cognitive impairment in heart failure (HF) because the evidence is fragmented and sample size is small. Therefore we aimed to systematically review and analyze the available evidence about the association between HF and dementia. METHODS: In the present study, we searched for articles published until August 2019 in the following databases: PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, Medline and Google Scholar. The pooled multivariate odds ratio (OR) or relative risk (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were obtained by the use of STATA 12.0 software. RESULTS: The meta-analysis showed a positive association between HF and risk of all-cause dementia (OR/RR = 1.28, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.43, I(2) = 70.0%, P < 0.001). Additionally, the study showed no significant association between HF and risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) (OR/RR = 1.38, 95% CI 0.90 to 2.13, I(2) = 74.8%, P = 0.008). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, HF was associated with an increased risk of developing dementia. In addition, large scale prospective studies are essential to explore the associations between HF and risk of AD.