B. Wolozin et al., Decreased prevalence of Alzheimer disease associated with 3-hydroxy-3-methyglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors, ARCH NEUROL, 57(10), 2000, pp. 1439-1443
Context: Increasing evidence suggests that cholesterol plays a role in the
pathophysiology of Alzheimer disease (AD). For instance, an elevated serum
cholesterol level has been shown to be a risk factor for AD.
Objective: To determine whether patients taking 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl
coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins), which are a group of medicines t
hat inhibit the synthesis of cholesterol, have a lower prevalence of probab
le AD.
Design: The experiment uses a cross-sectional analysis comparing the preval
ence of probable AD in 3 groups of patients from hospital records: the enti
re population, patients receiving 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A red
uctase inhibitors (hereafter referred to as the statins), and patients rece
iving medications used to treat hypertension or cardiovascular disease.
Patients: The subjects studied were those included in the computer database
s of 3 different hospitals for the years October 1, 1996, through August 31
, 1998.
Main Outcome Measures: Diagnosis of probable AD.
Results: We find that the prevalence of probable AD in the cohort taking st
atins during the study interval is 60% to 73% (P<.001) lower than the total
patient population or compared with patients taking other medications typi
cally used in the treatment of hypertension or cardiovascular disease.
Conclusions: There is a lower prevalence of diagnosed probable AD in patien
ts taking 2 different 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhib
itors-lovastatin and pravastatin. While one cannot infer causative mechanis
ms based on these data, this study reveals an interesting association in th
e data, which warrants further study.