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Cholesterol-lowering
drugs known as statins may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer's
disease by as much as 79 percent, according to researchers
presenting at the American Academy of Neurology's 54th Annual
Meeting in Denver.
"This
study confirms and extends previous reports and is the largest
study on this topic in the U.S.," said Dr. Robert C.
Green of Boston University School of Medicine, the study's
lead author. "It is also the first to include a large
number of African-American families."
The study
included 2,581 people, including 614 African-American patients,
from more than 800 families, enrolled over six years at 15
medical centers.
Of those
people, 912 had probable or definite Alzheimer's disease,
while the other 1,669 family members did not have dementia.
Results
were adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, education, history
of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and genetic make-up.
Researchers
found that, even in people thought to be genetically predisposed
to the disease, the use of statins significantly reduced the
risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
They also
said statins provided the same protection for African-Americans,
a group at high risk for the disease.
Cholesterol-lowering
drugs other than statins were not associated with a reduced
risk.
Source:
Alzheimer Week
of April 21, 2002
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