Statins DON’T harm your memory, study suggests

Statins do not speed up memory loss and may protect against cognitive decline, a study suggests.

For years experts have fiercely debated whether the pills – proven to save lives – can cause memory troubles. 

Australian researchers hope to have now put a nail in the coffin, after finding no such link in a review of evidence.

Results suggested the cholesterol-busting pills may protect against forgetfulness in pensioners at risk of dementia.

Scientists behind the study hope the findings will ‘reassure’ patients who could have been hesitant to use them over the fears.

Around six million patients in the UK take statins. It is estimated that up to 30million people are on the drugs in the US. 

Experts agree for people who have heart disease, especially those who have suffered a heart attack in the past, the pills save lives.  

But they are also known to trigger a slew of nasty side effects including headaches, muscle pain and nausea.  

Researchers from The Garvan Institute in Sydney studied 1,037 people between the age of 70 and 90 for six years.  

There were 395 people who had never taken statins and 642 people using them, for an average of nine years.

Volunteers were examined every two years over the study period by psychologists and nurses.

Experts assessed changes to five areas of cognition and memory using 13 different tests and MRI scans of the brain. 

Researchers found no difference in the rate of decline in memory or cognitive ability between the two groups.

In people with risk factors for dementia, such as heart disease or diabetes, the drugs slowed down cognitive decline.

This slowdown was not present in people who had the same risk factors but did not take statins. 

Professor Katherine Samaras, one of the researchers, said: ‘We carried out the most comprehensive analysis of cognition in elderly statin users to date.

‘[We] found no results to support that cholesterol-lowering statins cause memory impairment.

‘Many factors can contribute to the cognitive symptoms that isolated case reports describe.

‘What we’ve come away with from this study is a reassurance for consumers to feel more confident about their statin prescription.’

She added: ‘Our findings demonstrate how crucial a healthy metabolism is to brain function, and how therapies can modulate this to promote healthy ageing.’ 

Statins work by reducing levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, which flows through the arteries in blood and sticks to the walls.

This clogs them up and raises the risk of someone suffering a heart attack or stroke. 

Impaired blood flow from the heart to the brain is a trigger for impaired cognitive abilities including problems with memory, reasoning, planning and judgment.  

The findings, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, have been welcomed by experts.

Dr Costantino Iadecola, director of the Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, said: ‘These data support the view that worries about cognitive impairment should not limit statin use.’

And he added they ‘raise the possibility that statins may favourably alter cognitive trajectories in a group of elders at high risk of Alzheimer’s disease’. 

Statins are controversial. Experts in the heart field are divided on whether ‘over-prescribing’ is doing ‘more harm than good’. 

They are the most commonly prescribed drug in the world and an estimated 30 per cent of all adults over the age of 40 are eligible to take them.  

But some cardiologists say the thresholds for prescribing them may be too high, meaning benefits are outweighed by side effects for many people.