ObjectiveTo explore the relationship between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the risk of dementia. MethodsComputerized searches were conducted in PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, CNKI, VIP, Wanfang Data Knowledge Service Platform, and China Biomedical Literature Database. Studies on cohort research on COPD and the risk of dementia were collected, with the search period ranging from the establishment of the databases to April 2025. Literature screening, data extraction, and literature quality evaluation were independently conducted by two researchers. Meta-analysis was performed using Stata 18.0 software. ResultsA total of 9 studies were included, involving 8,475,339 subjects. The meta-analysis results showed that compared with non-COPD populations, the risk of dementia in COPD populations increased by 23% (HR=1.23, 95%CI 1.14-1.33, P<0.001). The subgroup analysis results indicated that the risk of dementia in COPD patients aged 65 years or younger increased by 61% (HR=1.61, 95%CI 1.32-1.98, P<0.001), and the risk increased by 22% in COPD patients older than 65 years (HR=1.22, 95%CI 1.07-1.39, P<0.001); the risk of dementia in female COPD patients increased by 34% (HR=1.34, 95%CI 1.31-1.37, P<0.001), and in male COPD patients it increased by 31% (HR=1.31, 95%CI 1.28-1.33, P<0.001); the risk of dementia in COPD patients in the European and American regions increased by 32% (HR=1.32, 95%CI 1.30-1.34, P<0.001), and in the Asian region it increased by 20% (HR=1.20, 95%CI 1.06-1.37, P<0.05). In terms of the type of dementia, COPD increased the risk of vascular dementia (HR=1.64, 95%CI 1.26-2.13, P<0.001), but did not increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (HR=0.95, 95%CI 0.58-1.55, P>0.05). ConclusionsCOPD increases the risk of dementia. The risk increase is more significant in patients aged 65 years or younger, and COPD patients are more likely to have vascular dementia rather than Alzheimer’s disease.
