Statins does NOT cause memory loss despite fears drug could harm cognitive health, major new study suggests
- Katherine Samaras examined 1,037 people who used statins for nine years
- Ms Samaras, at Garvan Institute, found no results of statins ‘impairing memory’
- The Garvan, Australia, used 13 different tests and brain scans on people 70 to 90
- It aims to provide ‘reassurance’ for consumers about their statin prescription
Professor Katherine Samaras, from the Garvan Institute, says a study into statins should provide consumers ‘reassurance’ about their statin prescription
Fears that statins can cause memory loss are unfounded, a major study suggests.
In fact, the drugs may even protect against forgetfulness in some individuals, the researchers say.
Doctors said the findings should reassure patients using statins that it is safe to take them.
Concerns that they may damage cognitive health has made some reluctant to take the drugs.
The Australian researchers examined changes in the memory and brain function of 1,037 individuals aged 70 to 90 over six years.
They used 13 different tests and brain scans. On average, participants had been on statins for nine years.
Professor Katherine Samaras, from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, said: ‘We carried out the most comprehensive analysis of cognition in elderly statin users to date, and found no results to support that cholesterol-lowering statins cause memory impairment.
The Garvan Institute (pictured) study examined 1,037 people aged between 70 and 90, who had been using a statin prescription for nine years. And the researchers remarkably found ‘no results to support that cholesterol-lowering statins cause memory impairment’, according Ms Samaras
‘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.’
Around 8million people in Britain take the cholesterol-busting drugs, which are thought to prevent around 80,000 heart attacks and strokes every year.
Around eight million use the cholesterol-busting drugs thought to prevent around 80,000 heart attacks (file image)