Abstract Details

To investigate the effect of statin therapy on the incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and other age-related neurodegenerative diseases (NDD) including non-AD dementia, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s Disease, and ALS and to examine whether statin’s effect on NDD risk varied between molecules, sex, or age groups.

This retrospective analysis used the US-based Mariner insurance claims dataset of 53 million participants. Inclusion criteria were age > 45 years old, no prior history of NDD before statin use, and claims enrolled for 6 months prior and 3 years after statin use. Patients were propensity score-matched based on age, gender, region, comorbidities and cci for group assignment. Records were surveyed for a diagnosis of NDD 1 year after statin exposure using survival analysis. Sensitivity analyses for the detection of responders based on comorbidities and drug combinations were conducted.

Of the 1,293,952 participants who met inclusion criteria, 646,976 patients had statin exposure and were matched to 646,976 patients without exposure. Statin use was associated with decreased risk of AD (RR [95% CI]: 0.54 [0.52–0.57]; P < .001) and other NDD. Sex difference was apparent where men exhibited greater risk reduction than women, which was driven by atorvastatin and simvastatin. Non-responders were predominantly female and had an overall higher incidence of comorbidities, whereas responders had a higher incidence of obesity and asthma.