Stain therapy does not put older patients at a greater risk of dementia or cognitive decline, according to new findings published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
“With statins being increasingly prescribed to older adults, their long-term effects on cognitive decline and dementia risk have attracted growing interest,” wrote first author Zhen Zhou, MD, a research fellow at the University of Tasmania in Australia, and colleagues. “Any neurocognitive effect of statins may change the drug’s net benefit in older people, particularly those with low cognitive function initially. Previous studies investigating the statin-associated neurocognitive outcomes have yielded inconsistent findings.”
Zhou et al. explored data from nearly 19,000 patients with a median age of 74 years old. More than 56% of the cohort was female, and they were followed for a median of 4.7 years. Patients had no prior history of cardiovascular disease events, dementia or major physical disabilities.
Overall, the authors found that statin use was not tied to a greater risk of dementia, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or their various subclassifications. There was also no heightened risk of changes in cognitive function over time. This was true for patients taking either hydrophilic or lipophilic statins.
The patient’s age and sex did not appear to make any difference on this outcome. On a similar note, the presence of diabetes or hypertension did not have a significant impact one way or another.
Zhou and colleagues, it seems, have already determined what the next phase of this research should look like.
“The study results must be interpreted with caution because of the study’s observational nature and will require confirmation by randomized clinical trials designed to explore the neurocognitive effects of statins in older populations,” the authors added.
The full study is available here.
Michael has more than 16 years of experience as a professional writer and editor. He has written at length about cardiology, radiology, artificial intelligence and other key healthcare topics.