Cholesterol-lowering drugs slow dementia progression

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A clinical trial shows benefit in statins when it comes to holding back Alzheimer's disease.
Previous work has suggested that statins, drugs that lower cholesterol, could benefit the brain as well as the heart. Now a study from a team at the University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, proves that statins do indeed have an impact on the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

They looked at 342 patients attending an memory clinic for Alzheimer's disease, monitoring them for three years. In all, 129 had raised cholesterol, of whom half were being treated exclusively with statins. Another 105 had untreated high cholesterol and the rest had normal cholesterol.

All patients got worse over the three years of the study, but those on statins deteriorated at a slower rate. What is now needed is a larger trial to see whether it would be beneficial to prescribe statins for the prevention and treatment of dementia.

Source
Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 2005 Volume 76 pages 1624-1629

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