Journal
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF MEDICINE
Volume 117, Issue 11, Pages 823-829Publisher
EXCERPTA MEDICA INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.amjmed.2004.07.041
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- NHLBI NIH HHS [HL46328] Funding Source: Medline
Ask authors/readers for more resources
PURPOSE: In our initial study of the potential effects of cholesterol-lowering interventions on cognitive functioning, treatment with lovastatin as compared with placebo caused performance decrements on several neuropsychological tests, whereas scores on other tests were unaffected. The current study was designed to confirm and extend those findings. METHODS: The study comprised 308 hypercholesterolemic adults between 35 and 70 years of age. Employing a randomized double-blind design) we assigned participants to daily treatment with placebo, 10 mg of simvastatin, or 40 mg of simvastatin for 6 months. A neuropsychological test battery was administered to assess cognitive functioning at baseline and at the end of the treatment period. RESULTS: A total of 283 subjects completed the study: 94 subjects on placebo, 96 taking 10 mg of simvastatin, and 93 taking 40 nu, of simvastatin. Compared with placebo, decremental effects of simvastatin treatment were found on tests previously observed to be sensitive to statins (P = 0.008; difference in summary z scores = 0.18; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.07 to 0.29) and on tests not previously administered (P = 0.04; difference in summary z scores = 0.17; 95% Cl: 0.05 to 0.29), but not on tests previously observed to be insensitive to statins (P = 0.84; difference in summary z scores = 0.02; 95% Cl: -0.07 to 0.10). For the three tests specifically affected by simvastatin, effects on cognitive performance were small, manifest only as failure to improve during the 6 months of treatment (compared with placebo), and were confounded by baseline differences on one test. CONCLUSION: This study provides partial support for minor decrements in cognitive functioning with statins. Whether such effects have any long-term sequelae or occur with other cholesterol-lowering interventions is not known. (C) 2004 by Elsevier Inc.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available