Earlier statin use after diabetes diagnosis may be linked to a lower dementia risk

Starting a statin soon after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes was associated with a lower likelihood of dementia in a large Danish study. The results suggest that the timing of treatment may matter, though the research does not prove that statins themselves prevent dementia.

Using national health records, researchers compared three treatment patterns. Beginning statin therapy within the first year was associated with a 15% lower relative risk over 10 years, while starting between one and five years after diagnosis was linked to a 10% lower relative risk.

The analysis covered 132,585 people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes from 2006 through 2019 who had never previously used statins. The team tracked their records through the end of 2021 and searched for all-cause dementia diagnoses.

During an average follow-up of about seven years, 2.7% of participants developed dementia. The 15% reduction refers to a relative difference between groups and does not mean that 15 out of every 100 people would avoid dementia.

Type 2 diabetes is known to raise dementia risk, and many people with diabetes also receive treatment for high LDL cholesterol. Because statins are already widely used to lower cardiovascular risk, they offered a practical way to examine a possible link with brain health.

To reduce bias, the researchers used methods meant to imitate some aspects of a randomized trial. They also took into account that people classified as later starters had to remain in the study long enough to become eligible for that group.

A separate line of prevention research is testing an experimental drug designed to block Alzheimer’s-related changes before memory loss begins.

Still, treatment choices were made in everyday clinical care, not under a trial setting. People who started statins earlier may have differed from later starters or nonusers in health status, follow-up care, or access to treatment.

The findings, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, were broadly similar for men and women. The study looked at dementia as a single group of diagnoses, so it remains unclear whether specific dementia types show the same association with statin timing.

Because statins are already so commonly prescribed, any possible connection between cholesterol treatment and brain health is important to explore further. A study focused directly on cognitive outcomes could help determine whether treatment itself changes the course of memory and thinking.

For now, the Danish data point to an association after a diabetes diagnosis. They also add a new dementia-related question to a treatment decision that is already based on cardiovascular health and other clinical factors.

If you are interested in this topic, please read articles about Mediterranean diet could help protect against Alzheimer’s, even for those at high genetic risk, and MIND and Mediterranean diets are linked to fewer Alzheimer’s signs in the brain.

For more information, please see articles about How Mediterranean diet could benefit people with type 2 diabetes, and Healthy eating for a happy heart: managing cholesterol levels through diet.

Source: Copenhagen University Hospital – Herlev and Gentofte and European Society of Cardiology.