What did the Danish study find about statins and dementia risk?

The study found that people with type 2 diabetes who started statins within a year of diagnosis had a 15% lower relative risk of dementia over 10 years.

Starting Statins Early May Lower Dementia Risk in People With Type 2 Diabetes, New Research Finds

Q: Do statins prevent dementia?

The study does not prove that statins prevent dementia. More research, including clinical trials, is needed to establish whether statins directly reduce dementia risk.

Q: Why might statins be linked to dementia risk?

Statins reduce LDL cholesterol, which is linked to cardiovascular disease. Since diabetes is associated with higher dementia risk, managing cholesterol might influence dementia risk.

Q: Should everyone with type 2 diabetes take statins?

Not necessarily. The decision should be made with a healthcare professional based on individual cardiovascular risk, cholesterol levels, age, and other health factors.

Starting statin treatment soon after a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes may be linked to a lower risk of developing dementia, according to new research.

The findings come from a large observational study of more than 132,000 people in Denmark and suggest that the timing of cholesterol-lowering treatment could matter when it comes to long-term brain health.

However, the researchers stress that the findings do not prove that statins prevent dementia. More research, including clinical trials, is needed to establish whether the medicines directly reduce dementia risk.

What Did the Study Find?

Researchers examined Danish national health records involving 132,585 people who developed type 2 diabetes between 2006 and 2019 and had never previously taken statins.

Participants were divided according to when, if at all, they began statin treatment following their diabetes diagnosis. Those who started within one year were considered to have received early treatment, while those who began between one and five years after diagnosis were classified as receiving late treatment.

Over a median follow-up of 7.1 years, 2.7% of participants developed dementia. After accounting for competing risks such as death, researchers estimated that people who started statins within the first year of their diabetes diagnosis had a 15% lower relative risk of dementia over 10 years than those who did not start statins within five years.

Those who started treatment between one and five years after diagnosis also had a lower relative risk, although the reduction was smaller at 10%.

The difference was more modest when expressed as absolute risk. The estimated 10-year risk of dementia was 3.3% among people who started statins early, compared with 3.5% among those who started later and 3.9% among those who did not start treatment.

Why Might Statins Be Linked to Dementia Risk?

Statins are commonly prescribed to reduce levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, often referred to as 'bad' cholesterol. High LDL cholesterol can contribute to fatty deposits building up inside arteries, increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease.

People with type 2 diabetes are already at increased risk of cardiovascular complications, while diabetes itself is also associated with a higher risk of dementia.

The researchers suggest that the overlap between diabetes, cholesterol, and dementia could partly explain the association observed in the study. Cholesterol is also among the potentially modifiable dementia risk factors identified by the 2024 Lancet Commission on dementia prevention. But the precise mechanism remains unclear.

Should People With Diabetes Take Statins?

Not everyone with type 2 diabetes will necessarily need a statin, and the decision should be made with a healthcare professional based on individual cardiovascular risk, cholesterol levels, age, and other health factors.

The study's findings may nevertheless provide another reason to discuss cholesterol management soon after a type 2 diabetes diagnosis.

'This study suggests that starting statins soon after a type 2 diabetes diagnosis may also be linked to a modest reduction in dementia risk,' said cardiovascular disease researcher Isabel Goncalves of the European Society of Cardiology, who was not involved in the research.

Importantly, the research was observational, meaning researchers examined patterns in existing health records rather than randomly assigning people to receive statins. Therefore, other differences between people who took statins and those who did not could have contributed to the results.

The study, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, adds to the evidence that managing cardiovascular risk factors may have implications beyond heart health. But for now, statins should be viewed as an established treatment for reducing cardiovascular risk, not as a proven dementia-prevention drug.