If you thought that the bad news about statins was over, think again. We are seeing more and more research
bringing more bad and sad news about the prescription epidemic for
statins and how the American Heart Association is slowing losing
credibility as a medical group. It would not be so bad if the AHA
hadn't doubled down and encouraged prescribing statins to people that
had normal lipid (cholesterol) results in children, adolescents, and
young people.
Statins are a mainstay in diabetes
therapy, but connections have been made between memory impairment and
statin use. Previous case studies and case series have found a link
between the use of statins and memory loss. However, there is a lot
of conflicting information on the topic.
A recent retrospective cohort study was
undertaken to determine whether there is an association between
statin use and acute memory loss. 482,543 participants on statins
were compared to 482,543 participants receiving no therapy and 26,484
receiving a lipid-lowering agent other than a statin. Participants
were analyzed 30 days after first exposure to therapy. The
comparison between groups utilized logistic regression to analyze the
results, which allowed an estimate of an odds ratio (OR) with a 95%
confidence interval (CI).
The results of the study found an
association between the use of statin therapy and acute memory loss
at 30 days. Statin use compared to non-users of a lipid-lowering
agent yielded an odds ratio of 4.40 (CI: 3.01-6.41). When comparing
the group of non-statin lipid-lowering agents to non-users, the odds
ratio was 3.60 (CI: 1.34-9.70). However, when comparing the statin
group to the non-statin lipid-lowering agent group, the odds ratio
was 1.03 (CI: 0.63-1.66).
While the results support the
hypothesis that there is an association between statin use and acute
memory loss, it also makes an association between other
lipid-lowering agents and acute memory loss. There was no
statistical difference found between acute memory loss caused by
statin use when compared to other lipid-lowering agents. This study
makes the association between acute memory loss and any
lipid-lowering agent, not limiting the effect to statins alone. It
should be noted that there is also some evidence in various studies
that long-term statin use may be beneficial to memory. This study
does not address that conflicting viewpoint.
I do like what Tom Naughton writes
about statins. I will list four of his blogs, which are telling it
like it is about statins.
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