Statins Associated with Lower Risk of Dementia

Statins, a class of drugs used to lower bad cholesterol can protect people against dementia, a new study has found.

The study was conducted by Dr Tin-Tse Lin from Taiwan and colleagues and was based on data of over 58,000 people.

Statins are known to help against heart disease and stroke by lowering the levels of LDL or bad cholesterol in the body.  In the U.S., some 30 million people use the drug and it has made over $19 billion in domestic sales.  

A recent study showed that statin lowered glaucoma risk - a common form of eye disease. Another study recently showed that statins can raise the risk of diabetes type-2.

However, Statin-use is known to result in muscle-related problems in 10 to 15 percent of all users.

In the current study, researchers found a link between potency of statins and the lowered risk of dementia in older people. The data for the study was obtained from Taiwan's National Health Insurance.

"Statins are widely used in the older population to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. But recent reports of statin-associated cognitive impairment have led the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to list statin-induced cognitive changes, especially for the older population, in its safety communications," Dr Lin said in a news release.

The studied respondents, 65 years or older, had no history of dementia in 1997 and 1998. Among these people, those who received the high doses of statins had a three-fold decrease in the risk of developing dementia. Scientists also found that statins' protection against dementia remained even after they adjusted for other factors such as age, gender and cardiovascular risk. Among the group only 5,516 people were diagnosed with dementia

Dementia isn't a specific disease but is a term that describes loss of brain function that can occur due to many reasons. Common characteristics of the condition include loss of memory, language, thinking and behavioral changes. About 24 million people in the world are affected by this condition and it is one of the world's fastest growing diseases.

The results of the study were presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress.