A lack of correlation between the incidence of lyme disease and deaths due to Alzheimer's disease.
Reports that Lyme disease (LD) causes Alzheimer's disease (AD) have appeared in academic journals and online. If the biological agent Borrelia burgdorferi that causes LD also causes AD, then areas with the highest levels of LD should have significantly higher numbers of deaths due to AD compared to low LD areas. Here we show there is no statistically significant correlation between the incidence of LD and deaths due to AD in the US. Furthermore, the 13 states with the highest deaths due to AD were statistically different (p < 0.0001) from those with high LD incidence.
Department of Biology, University of Toronto at Mississauga, Mississauga, ON, Canada Department of Cell and Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Danton H
DH
O'Day
Department of Chemistry, City College of New York, New York, NY, USA.
Andrew
A
Catalano
D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000401:mortality*; D002423:Cause of Death; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
Alzheimer's disease; Borrelia burgdorferi; disease incidence; lyme disease