Statins Prevent Many Diseases, But Not Alzheimer’s

I’m a fan of statins, as my constant readers will have realized. However, they can’t prevent everything that can go wrong in the body. Because raised cholesterol levels are also seen in many Alzheimer’s patients, it’s not surprising that lowering the ‘bad’ cholesterol might be thought to help stave off Alzheimer’s.

The Cochrane Library has reviewed two large clinical trials that addressed this issue. They included 26,340 patients aged 40 - 82. One study, done in the UK, compared simvastatin (Zocor®) with placebo with a follow-up of 5 years, while the other compared pravastatin (Pravachol®) with placebo over 3.2 years. Mental functioning was measured at different times with different tests, which meant that the results from the two studies couldn’t be simply added together.

However, there was no reduction in the occurrence of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia in those patients taking statins compared with those on placebo. The authors conclude that, as these were well-designed, prospective, double–blind, placebo- controlled studies, the results offer clear evidence that statins cannot be recommended for the prevention of Alzheimer’s or dementia.

This is a disappointing finding. There were hopes (not well founded) that the anti-inflammatory action of statins might in some way influence the causative mechanism of dementias. But that’s what research is for – to show what doesn’t work as well as what does.