Simvastatin Doesn't Benefit Patients with Alzheimer Disease

Randomized trials failed to show that statins can prevent or treat Alzheimer disease.

Several lines of indirect evidence suggest that statins favorably influence the course of Alzheimer disease. To test this theory, researchers randomized 406 patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer disease to receive daily simvastatin (40 mg) or placebo. At baseline, mean LDL and HDL cholesterol levels were 126 mg/dL and 61 mg/dL, respectively.

At 18 months, mean declines in cognition and function — according to various standardized scores — were virtually identical in the statin and placebo groups.

Comment

In this and another recent randomized trial (Neurology 2010; 74:956), patients with mild-to-moderate Alzheimer disease did not benefit from statin therapy. Moreover, in two large controlled trials of …

Reviewing Author

Allan S. Brett, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Allan S. Brett, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Simvastatin Doesn't Benefit Patients with Alzheimer Disease

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Reviewing Author