Older people with dementia are particularly at risk of COVID-19; however, relatively little is known about the indirect impact of the pandemic on the lives of those living with, and/or caring for someone with, dementia. The aim of this study was to investigate the experiences of people with dementia and informal carers during the closure of available social and medical services in Poland during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with people with dementia (n = 5) and informal carers (n = 21) was performed between June and August 2020 after the first wave of COVID-19 in Poland. Three overarching themes were identified: (1) care re-organization; (2) psychological responses; (3) emerging needs. The factor underlying all these elements was reliance on other people. Social support and engagement are vital to the ongoing health and well-being of people living with dementia and their informal carers. Services need to be strengthened to provide ongoing provision to those living with dementia to reach pre-pandemic levels, if not better. Within the post-pandemic environment, people with dementia and their informal carers need reassurance that they can rely on external institutional and social support able to meet their needs.

Objectives: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias represent a growing public health concern, highlighting the need for reliable biomarkers for early diagnosis and treatment monitoring. This study evaluated the potential utility of BIN1 and TOMM40 genotyping in diagnosing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early-stage dementia. Methods: The BIN1 rs744373 and TOMM40 rs2075650 polymorphisms were genotyped in a cohort of 105 individuals diagnosed with MCI or dementia and in 164 cognitively healthy controls. Genotype distributions were compared between the groups, and the potential role of these variants in diagnostic assessment was explored. Results: A significantly higher frequency of the TOMM40 rs2075650 GG genotype was observed in patients with AD compared with cognitively healthy controls. In contrast, no statistically significant differences in genotype distribution were found among individuals with mild MCI, vascular dementia, or mixed dementia. Furthermore, the distribution of BIN1 rs744373 alleles did not differ significantly across the analyzed groups. Conclusions: Data on the effects of BIN1 rs744373 and TOMM40 rs2075650 polymorphisms in MCI and dementia remain limited and inconsistent. In our study, significant differences were observed only for the TOMM40 rs2075650 GG genotype and G allele, which were more frequent in Alzheimer’s disease patients than in controls. No significant associations were found for MCI, vascular dementia, or mixed dementia, nor for the BIN1 rs744373 polymorphism. These results suggest that TOMM40 rs2075650 genotyping may serve as an additional marker for assessing AD risk.