WVU Researcher Explores Connection Between Sepsis and Dementia

Professor Candice Brown at West Virginia University's (WVU's) School of Medicine and Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute is investigating the relationship between sepsis and dementia in order to help prevent or mitigate the neurological effects of sepsis, reports Newswise . "There are two key issues: sepsis can increase the age of onset and severity of dementia, but does dementia increase the onset of sepsis?" Brown asks. "Are people becoming septic because their brain function is impaired and, therefore, other systems aren't working properly, or does sepsis cause cognitive impairment? It's like a chicken and egg scenario." Brown is worried that as baby boomers age, sepsis and dementia will intersect more often because the risk for both disorders rises with age. The impact could be especially profound in West Virginia, which has the third-highest concentration of seniors in the United States. "Most people normally would develop some type of dementia by their 80s or 90s, but the onset of sepsis in their 50s and 60s could accelerate the process so that dementia develops in their 60s and 70s instead," Brown warns.