Long-Term Use of Advil® Lowers Alzheimer’s Risk

About a week ago I wrote about a clinical trial of a derivative of an NSAID (a non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug), flurbiprofen, or Ansaid®, in the treatment of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease. The derivative, called tarenflurbil, apparently works by inhibiting the enzyme that produces beta-amyloid, the protein of Alzheimer plaques in the brain. Now there’s an article in the online journal Neurology that shows a protective effect of NSAIDs, when taken over a long period, on the development of the disease.

Veterans aged 55 or older with Alzheimer’s were compared with carefully matched controls from the same population. Data were collected on NSAID use in the years leading up to the study date. Among the 50,000-odd Alzheimer’s cases, the likelihood for developing the disease was reduced by 40% in those who had used ibuprofen (Advil®) regularly for 5 or more years. If they had used other NSAIDs, the likelihood was only reduced by about 25%.

The investigators looked at whether NSAIDs that suppressed the levels of beta-amyloid were more likely to be protective. Unfortunately, there were insufficient numbers of drugs of this class (e.g. sulindac or flurbiprofen) to be able to determine an association. Certainly these two did not appear in this study to have an advantage over ibuprofen, the most-used NSAID. It looks as if more research may be needed to establish the hypothesis concerning the inhibition of beta-amyloid formation. But rheumatoid arthritis sufferers, who often take ibuprofen regularly, may have a real advantage.

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