This project aims to provide a rapid synthesis of published studies of mortality rates and incidence of COVID-19 among people living with dementia.

Research questions:

1. What is the relationship between Covid-19 restrictions (including lockdown) and the cognitive, psychological and functional symptoms among people with dementia living in the community?
2. What is the relationship between Covid-19 restrictions (including lockdown) and the cognitive, psychological and functional symptoms among people with dementia living in care homes?

We will follow PRISMA guidelines (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) for conducting the review and preparing the report. We developed search terms for three databases (Pubmed, PsychINFO and CINAHL) to identify all studies reporting primary data on the effect of COVID-19 isolation and confinement measures on people living with dementia. Included studies are in English language only and will be critically appraised using the Joanna Briggs critical appraisal tools. All study designs will be considered for inclusion. We extracted information related to cognitive measures, psychological symptom, activities of daily living and changes in medication (primary outcome measures) along with tools used to measure symptoms, setting where the study is conducted (e.g. community, day clinic, care home), sample size and dementia type (when reported) of participants. Evidence will be synthesized narratively.

This rapid review is expected to be completed by January 2020 and submitted to https://www.medrxiv.org/ before final submission to a peer-review journal