The latest study took information from more than 350 GP practices and looked for those patients with diagnosed dementia, comparing them to more than 1000 ordinary patients. They found patients aged 50 or above given statins had a substantially lowered risk of developing any sort of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease. One in ten people over the age of 65 develop some form of dementia. In many cases, it is a progressively worsening condition, leading to memory loss, confusion and in some cases death. There are few active treatments for Alzheimer's disease.
Some drugs appear to be able to reduce the symptoms slightly in some patients.
It specifically looked at people who have a high blood fat level and have been prescribed statins to lower cholesterol. This means that it can't be seen as conclusive evidence of a link between statins and a reduced risk of developing dementia, as people taking statins may have other things in common which could be related to risk of developing dementia. That said, it is certainly very important evidence. This re-enforces current thinking about possible links between Alzheimer's disease and vascular health.