• Media type: E-Article
  • Title: Age‐Varying Association Between Statin Use and Incident Alzheimer's Disease : [See editorial comments by Dr. Mary Hann pp 000–000) : [See editorial comments by Dr. Mary Hann pp 000–000)
  • Contributor: Li, Ge; Shofer, Jane B.; Rhew, Isaac C.; Kukull, Walter A.; Peskind, Elaine R.; McCormick, Wayne; Bowen, James D.; Schellenberg, Gerard D.; Crane, Paul K.; Breitner, John C.S.; Larson, Eric B.
  • imprint: Wiley, 2010
  • Published in: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
  • Language: English
  • DOI: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2010.02906.x
  • ISSN: 0002-8614; 1532-5415
  • Keywords: Geriatrics and Gerontology
  • Origination:
  • Footnote:
  • Description: <jats:p><jats:bold>OBJECTIVES: </jats:bold> To determine whether risk reduction of statins for Alzheimer's disease (AD) varies by age or presence of apolipoprotein E (APOE) ɛ4 allele.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>DESIGN: </jats:bold> A cohort of cognitively intact elderly participants was assessed biennially for dementia and AD.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>SETTING: </jats:bold> Community based.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>PARTICIPANTS: </jats:bold> Three thousand three hundred ninety‐two members of a health maintenance organization (HMO) aged 65 and older and without dementia.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>MEASUREMENTS: </jats:bold> Statin use was identified from the HMO pharmacy database, and proportional hazards models were applied with statin use as a time‐dependent covariate to assess the association between statins and AD and the modifying effects of age and the APOE ɛ4 allele.</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>RESULTS: </jats:bold> Over an average of 6.1 years of follow‐up of 3,099 participants, 263 participants developed probable AD. The adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) for statin use was 0.62 (95% confidence interval (CI)=0.40–0.97) for AD in models including demographic characteristics and vascular risk factors as covariates. The strength of the association between statins and AD diminished with age (statin‐by–age at entry interaction <jats:italic>P</jats:italic>=.04); the aHR in those younger than 80 was 0.44 (95% CI=0.25–0.78), versus 1.22 (95% CI=0.61–2.42) for aged 80 and older. The interaction term for statin use–by–APOE ɛ4 was not significant (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic>=.65).</jats:p><jats:p><jats:bold>CONCLUSION: </jats:bold> This enlarged study confirms earlier findings that statin therapy in early old age, but not in late age, may be associated with a lower risk of AD. The relationship between statin use and AD was consistent across APOE genotypes.</jats:p>