Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Background
Disturbances in brain cholesterol homeostasis may be involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Lipid-lowering medications could interfere with neurodegenerative processes in AD through cholesterol metabolism or other mechanisms.Objective
To explore the association between the use of lipid-lowering medications and cognitive decline over time in a cohort of patients with AD or mixed dementia with indication for lipid-lowering treatment.Methods
A longitudinal cohort study using the Swedish Registry for Cognitive/Dementia Disorders, linked with other Swedish national registries. Cognitive trajectories evaluated with mini-mental state examination (MMSE) were compared between statin users and non-users, individual statin users, groups of statins and non-statin lipid-lowering medications using mixed-effect regression models with inverse probability of drop out weighting. A dose-response analysis included statin users compared to non-users.Results
Our cohort consisted of 15,586 patients with mean age of 79.5 years at diagnosis and a majority of women (59.2 %). A dose-response effect was demonstrated: taking one defined daily dose of statins on average was associated with 0.63 more MMSE points after 3 years compared to no use of statins (95% CI: 0.33;0.94). Simvastatin users showed 1.01 more MMSE points (95% CI: 0.06;1.97) after 3 years compared to atorvastatin users. Younger (< 79.5 years at index date) simvastatin users had 0.80 more MMSE points compared to younger atorvastatin users (95% CI: 0.05;1.55) after 3 years. Simvastatin users had 1.03 more MMSE points (95% CI: 0.26;1.80) compared to rosuvastatin users after 3 years. No differences regarding statin lipophilicity were observed. The results of sensitivity analysis restricted to incident users were not consistent.Conclusions
Some patients with AD or mixed dementia with indication for lipid-lowering medication may benefit cognitively from statin treatment; however, further research is needed to clarify the findings of sensitivity analyses.
SUBMITTER: Petek B
PROVIDER: S-EPMC10731754 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Petek Bojana B Häbel Henrike H Xu Hong H Villa-Lopez Marta M Kalar Irena I Hoang Minh Tuan MT Maioli Silvia S Pereira Joana B JB Mostafaei Shayan S Winblad Bengt B Gregoric Kramberger Milica M Eriksdotter Maria M Garcia-Ptacek Sara S
Alzheimer's research & therapy 20231220 1
<h4>Background</h4>Disturbances in brain cholesterol homeostasis may be involved in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Lipid-lowering medications could interfere with neurodegenerative processes in AD through cholesterol metabolism or other mechanisms.<h4>Objective</h4>To explore the association between the use of lipid-lowering medications and cognitive decline over time in a cohort of patients with AD or mixed dementia with indication for lipid-lowering treatment.<h4>Methods</h4>A l ...[more]