SEATTLE-People who take statin drugs may be less likely to develop the brain changes that signal Alzheimer's disease, according to a study published in the August 28, 2007, issue of Neurology(r), the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
Previous research had suggested that people who received statins might be less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. “But our study is the first to compare the brains of people who had received statins with those who had not,” said Gail (Ge) Li, MD, PhD. The paper's lead author, Dr. Li is an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine, in Seattle.
She and her colleagues examined the brains of 110 Group Health members, aged 65 to 79, who had participated in Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) and who donated their brains for research. A joint project of Group Health and the University of Washington, ACT is a prospective cohort study started in 1994. It includes a random sample of Group Health members age 65 and older who had no thinking difficulties when enrolled.
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