Abstract
We studied three groups of patients older than 50 years from the United Kingdom General Practice Research Database, totaling 60,000 patients from 368 practices. Patients were grouped as follows: normal cholesterol levels, elevated cholesterol treated with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) or other lipid-lowering drugs, and untreated elevated cholesterol. Of these patients, 284 developed dementia and were matched with 1,080 controls. Patients taking statins had a 70% lower risk of dementia than patients without hyperlipidemia and those with hyperlipidemia who were untreated or treated with nonstatin drugs. Statins may prevent dementia; randomized clinical trials are needed to confirm this finding.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 27-31 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Cardiology Review |
Volume | 18 |
Issue number | 12 |
State | Published - 2001 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine