Statins cut Alzheimer's risk, regardless of ApoE4 status.(CLINICAL ROUNDS)(Clinical report)

Statins appear to cut the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by up to 56%, even among those with the high-risk apolipoprotein E4 allele, a large observational study has found.

The association between statin use and risk reduction was consistent for both lipophilic and hydrophilic agents, but absent in non-statin cholesterol-lowering drugs, Dr. M.D.M. Haag and colleagues reported (J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 2009;80:13-7).

The investigators used data from the Rotterdam Study, a prospective population-based cohort study of age-related disorders. The study included 7,000 elderly Dutch citizens who were free of dementia at baseline (1990-1993).

Follow-up examinations were conducted through 2004. The average follow-up period was 9 years, with a total of nearly 63,000 person-years of follow-up.

At baseline, the subjects' mean age was 69 years; 26% were known to be positive for the apolipoprotein E4 allele (ApoE4). During the follow-up period, dementias were diagnosed in 739 participants, including 582 with Alzheimer's disease, 81 with vascular dementia, and 76 with other types of dementia, the investigators reported.

There were 30,241 filled prescriptions for cholesterol-lowering drugs during the study; 92% were for statins and 8% for non-statins, including fibrates, bile acid-binding resins, or nicotinic acid and derivatives. Most of the statins prescribed were lipophilic (72%). Simvastatin was the most commonly prescribed (59%), followed by atorvastatin and pravastatin (both 13%).

Overall, the use of any statin was associated with a significantly decreased risk of Alzheimer's, ...