Statins Won't Harm Aging Brains, and May Even Help

An Australian study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found no link between cholesterol-lowering statin drugs and impaired brain health, and may even improve memory and mental function in people at risk of dementia, reports U.S. News & World Report . The researchers gathered data on more than 1,000 people aged 70 to 90, of whom about 600 took statins and had done so for an average of nine years. All subjects had their memory and cognitive skills tested at the beginning of the study, with no difference observed between statin users and nonusers. Some participants also underwent magnetic resonance imaging scans, which showed no significant difference in brain volume among statin users and nonusers over two years. Moreover, no significant difference between memory and mental ability was seen among those who did and did not take statins at six years; still, statins were linked to a slower rate of memory loss in 99 people who started taking the drugs during the study. A cohort that used statins to protect against heart attacks also exhibited a slower rate of decline in memory, compared to nonusers. Statin use also slowed mental decline in persons with heart disease, diabetes, or other risk factors for dementia, compared to nonusers with the same conditions. Statin users with the APOE-4 gene mutation, which puts them at high risk for Alzheimer's, seemed to have a significantly slower rate of mental decline; however, users without heart disease who took statins had a similar rate of memory decline to nonusers.