Taking statins could potentially cut dementia risk in people with type 2 diabetes, new research suggests.
A study that tracked over 132,000 individuals in Denmark for a decade found that those who started taking statins within five years of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes were less likely to develop dementia of any cause.
The researchers found that the earlier people took statins, the greater the apparent benefit. Those who began taking statins within a year of their diabetes diagnosis were 15 per cent less likely to develop dementia, compared with those who never took the drugs.
Starting to take statins later – between one and five years after diagnosis – still helped, cutting the risk by 10 per cent.
Statins, the most widely prescribed drug in the world, are typically used to prevent heart attacks and strokes by bringing down low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels.
Chronic exposure to elevated LDL cholesterol is also considered a risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia.
Statins reduce the risk of small blood vessels in the brain 'furring up' in a process called atherosclerosis, explained Prof Riyaz Patel, a cardiologist at University College London, to BBC Science Focus. This can prevent parts of the brain from being starved of blood and effectively not functioning anymore, as is known to happen in vascular-type dementia.
Prof John Hardy, a neurogeneticist whose research team uncovered the first mutation directly implicated in Alzheimer’s disease in 1991, told BBC Science Focus that the study findings were “interesting, but by no means definitive”.
Prof Isabel Goncalves, a cardiologist at Skåne University Hospital in Sweden, who was not involved in the study, agrees.
"This was an observational study, so it cannot prove that statins prevent dementia," she said.
Nevertheless, she thinks the findings are potentially important, given that statins are widely available and inexpensive.
"People with type 2 diabetes already have a higher risk of dementia," said Goncalves. The results of the study should "inform discussions between patients and clinicians".
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