- Email: [email protected]
Dementia and statins
CORRESPONDENCE
the diagnosis of dementia but not on the possible effect of statins in people who already have dementia. *Hershel Jick, Gwen L Zornberg, Susan S Jick, Sudha Seshadri, David A Drachman *Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, Boston University School of Medicine, Lexington, MA 02421, USA; Framingham Heart Study, Boston University School of Medicine, Framingham; and Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester 1
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3
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5
Seshadri S, Zornberg GL, Derby LE, Myers MW, Jick H, Drachman DA. Postmenopausal estrogen replacement therapy and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Arch Neurol (in press). Laufs E, Endres M, Stagliano N, et al. Neuroprotection mediated by changes in the endothelial actin cytoskeleton. J Clin Invest 2000; 106: 15–24. Yamada M, Huang Z, Dalkara T, et al. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase-dependent cerebral blood flow augmentation by Larginine after chronic statins treatment. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 2000; 20: 709–17. Rosenson RS. Biological basis for statin therapy in stroke prevention. Curr Opin Neurol 2000; 13: 57–62. Warshafsky S, Packard D, Marks SJ, et al. Efficacy of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors for prevention of stroke. J Gen Intern Med 1999; 14: 763–74.
Sir—To answer the question of whether statins’ apparent reduction in risk for dementia is also present for dementing disorders, Hershel Jick and attempted to find colleagues1 associations between Alzheimer’s type dementia and vascular dementia, but saw no differences. Clinically, Alzheimer’s type dementia and vascular dementia can hardly be differentiated. Furthermore, there is increasing evidence that atherosclerosis interacts with risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, and patients who have had strokes are at increased risk of Alzheimer’s dementia.2–4 On the basis of the hypothesis that cholesterol-lowering therapy with statins will slow the progression of cerebrovascular disease and will preserve cognitive function at old age, we designed a continuing doubleblind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial to investigate the effect of 40 mg pravastatin in an elderly population in Scotland, Ireland, and the Netherlands.5 Annual neuropsychological tests are done in 5804 people to investigate the effect of pravastatin treatment on cognitive decline. In a nested substudy of 650 participants, magnetic resonance imaging of the brain is being done at baseline and after 3 years’ follow-up to investigate the effect of pravastatin on the
THE LANCET • Vol 357 • March 17, 2001
occurrence of cerebral lesions. We also assess cytokine profiles of 450 participants to investigate the relation between cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease and the innate immune system. The results of the study are expected in 2002.
3
4
5
*G J Blauw, J Shepherd, M B Murphy for the PROSPER study group *Leiden University Medical Center, General Internal Medicine, Section of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 2300 RC Leiden, Netherlands; Royal Infirmary Glasgow, UK; and University College Cork, Ireland 1
2
3
4
5
Jick H, Zornberg GL, Jick SS, Seshardi S, Drachman DA. Statins and the risk of dementia. Lancet 2000; 356: 1627–31. Snowdon D, Greiner L, Mortimer J, Riley K, Greiner P, Markesbery W. Brain infarction and the clinical expression of Alzheimer disease: the Nun study. JAMA 1997; 277: 813–17. Hofman A, Ott A, Breteler MMB, et al. Atherosclerosis, apolipoprotein E, and prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in the Rotterdam study. Lancet 1997; 349: 151–54. Desmond DW, Moroney JT, Paik MC, et al. Frequency and clinical determinants of dementia after ischemic stroke. Neurology 2000; 54: 1124–31. Shepherd J, Blauw GJ, Murphy MB, et al. The design of a Prospective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER). Am J Cardiol 1999; 84: 1192–97.
Sir—Hershel Jick and colleagues1 document strikingly lower relative risk of dementia in patients taking statins. They suggest several paths by which statins might do this. I add another. Glia synthesise tumour necrosis factor-␣ (TNF-␣) in response to various physical or metabolic insults,2 and TNF damages neurons.3 Damaged or apoptotic neurons secrete factors that activate glia to increased TNF-␣ production.4 A mutually reinforcing cycle is thus set up and believed to be part of the pathophysiology of some dementing illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease. Statins significantly suppress and would, TNF-␣ synthesis,5 therefore, be expected to dampen that glia-neuron destructive feed back cycle.
Sir—Hershel Jick and colleagues1 observed a lower risk of dementia in individuals aged 50 years or older who were prescribed statins. They speculate on possible mechanisms by which statins might reduce the risk of developing dementia, including effects on plasma lipids, and on the cerebral microcirculation, including endothelial cells. We suggest that another possible mechanism through which statins improve cerebral microcirculation and lower the risk of dementia is decrease of plasma and blood viscosity.2 In the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study, we confirmed our hypotheses that plasma and blood viscosity were predictors of coronary heart disease events (as in observational studies)3 and that pravastatin lowered viscosity (by about a quarter of 1 SD).2 Plasma and blood viscosity might also be predictors of stroke,4 and plasma viscosity had an inverse association with cognitive performance in the Caerphilly Study of men aged 55–69 years.5 We agree with Jick and colleagues’ conclusion that further studies of the association of statins and dementia are required. Workers in such studies should consider including viscosity measurements to test our hypothesis. *Gordon Lowe, Ann Rumley, Christopher Packard, James Shepherd University Departments of *Medicine and Clinical Biochemistry, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow G31 2ER, UK
1
2
Richard E Kast Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401, USA (e-mail: [email protected]) 1
2
Jick H, Zornberg GL, Jick SS, Seshadri S, Drachman DA. Statins and the risk of dementia. Lancet 2000; 356: 1627–31. Schubert P, Morino T, Miyazaki H, et al. Cascading glia reactions: a common pathomechanism and its differentiated control by cyclic nucleotide signaling. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2000; 903: 24–33.
Yuan L, Neufeld AH. TNF: a potentially neurodestructive cytokine produced by glia in the human glaucomatous nerve head. Glia 2000; 32: 42–50. Viviani B, Corsini E, Galli CL, et al. Dying neural cells activate glia through the release of a protease product. Glia 2000; 32: 84–90. Rosenson RS, Tangney CC, Casey LC. Inhibition of proinflammatory cytokine production by pravastatin. Lancet 1999; 353: 983–84.
3
4
5
Jick H, Zornberg GL, Jick SS, Seshadri S, Drachman DA. Statins and the risk of dementia. Lancet 2000; 356: 1627–31. Lowe GDO, Rumley A, Norrie J, et al. Blood rheology, cardiovascular risk factors, and cardiovascular disease: the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study. Thromb Haemost 2000; 84: 553–58. Danesh J, Collins R, Peto R, Lowe GDO. Haematocrit, viscosity, erythrocyte sedimentation rate: meta-analyses of prospective studies of coronary heart disease. Eur Heart J 2000; 21: 515–20. Lowe GDO, Lee AJ, Rumley A, Price JF, Fowkes FGR. Blood viscosity and risk of cardiovascular events: the Edinburgh Artery Study. Br J Haematol 1997; 96: 168–73. Elwood PC, Pickering J, Gallacher JEJ. Cognitive function and blood rheology: results from the Caerphilly Cohort of older men. Age Ageing (in press).
881
For personal use only. Reproduce with permission from The Lancet Publishing Group.
the diagnosis of dementia but not on the possible effect of statins in people who already have dementia. *Hershel Jick, Gwen L Zornberg, Susan S Jick, Sudha Seshadri, David A Drachman *Boston Collaborative Drug Surveillance Program, Boston University School of Medicine, Lexington, MA 02421, USA; Framingham Heart Study, Boston University School of Medicine, Framingham; and Department of Neurology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester 1
2
3
4
5
Seshadri S, Zornberg GL, Derby LE, Myers MW, Jick H, Drachman DA. Postmenopausal estrogen replacement therapy and the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Arch Neurol (in press). Laufs E, Endres M, Stagliano N, et al. Neuroprotection mediated by changes in the endothelial actin cytoskeleton. J Clin Invest 2000; 106: 15–24. Yamada M, Huang Z, Dalkara T, et al. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase-dependent cerebral blood flow augmentation by Larginine after chronic statins treatment. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 2000; 20: 709–17. Rosenson RS. Biological basis for statin therapy in stroke prevention. Curr Opin Neurol 2000; 13: 57–62. Warshafsky S, Packard D, Marks SJ, et al. Efficacy of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors for prevention of stroke. J Gen Intern Med 1999; 14: 763–74.
Sir—To answer the question of whether statins’ apparent reduction in risk for dementia is also present for dementing disorders, Hershel Jick and attempted to find colleagues1 associations between Alzheimer’s type dementia and vascular dementia, but saw no differences. Clinically, Alzheimer’s type dementia and vascular dementia can hardly be differentiated. Furthermore, there is increasing evidence that atherosclerosis interacts with risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease, and patients who have had strokes are at increased risk of Alzheimer’s dementia.2–4 On the basis of the hypothesis that cholesterol-lowering therapy with statins will slow the progression of cerebrovascular disease and will preserve cognitive function at old age, we designed a continuing doubleblind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial to investigate the effect of 40 mg pravastatin in an elderly population in Scotland, Ireland, and the Netherlands.5 Annual neuropsychological tests are done in 5804 people to investigate the effect of pravastatin treatment on cognitive decline. In a nested substudy of 650 participants, magnetic resonance imaging of the brain is being done at baseline and after 3 years’ follow-up to investigate the effect of pravastatin on the
THE LANCET • Vol 357 • March 17, 2001
occurrence of cerebral lesions. We also assess cytokine profiles of 450 participants to investigate the relation between cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease and the innate immune system. The results of the study are expected in 2002.
3
4
5
*G J Blauw, J Shepherd, M B Murphy for the PROSPER study group *Leiden University Medical Center, General Internal Medicine, Section of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 2300 RC Leiden, Netherlands; Royal Infirmary Glasgow, UK; and University College Cork, Ireland 1
2
3
4
5
Jick H, Zornberg GL, Jick SS, Seshardi S, Drachman DA. Statins and the risk of dementia. Lancet 2000; 356: 1627–31. Snowdon D, Greiner L, Mortimer J, Riley K, Greiner P, Markesbery W. Brain infarction and the clinical expression of Alzheimer disease: the Nun study. JAMA 1997; 277: 813–17. Hofman A, Ott A, Breteler MMB, et al. Atherosclerosis, apolipoprotein E, and prevalence of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in the Rotterdam study. Lancet 1997; 349: 151–54. Desmond DW, Moroney JT, Paik MC, et al. Frequency and clinical determinants of dementia after ischemic stroke. Neurology 2000; 54: 1124–31. Shepherd J, Blauw GJ, Murphy MB, et al. The design of a Prospective Study of Pravastatin in the Elderly at Risk (PROSPER). Am J Cardiol 1999; 84: 1192–97.
Sir—Hershel Jick and colleagues1 document strikingly lower relative risk of dementia in patients taking statins. They suggest several paths by which statins might do this. I add another. Glia synthesise tumour necrosis factor-␣ (TNF-␣) in response to various physical or metabolic insults,2 and TNF damages neurons.3 Damaged or apoptotic neurons secrete factors that activate glia to increased TNF-␣ production.4 A mutually reinforcing cycle is thus set up and believed to be part of the pathophysiology of some dementing illnesses, including Alzheimer’s disease. Statins significantly suppress and would, TNF-␣ synthesis,5 therefore, be expected to dampen that glia-neuron destructive feed back cycle.
Sir—Hershel Jick and colleagues1 observed a lower risk of dementia in individuals aged 50 years or older who were prescribed statins. They speculate on possible mechanisms by which statins might reduce the risk of developing dementia, including effects on plasma lipids, and on the cerebral microcirculation, including endothelial cells. We suggest that another possible mechanism through which statins improve cerebral microcirculation and lower the risk of dementia is decrease of plasma and blood viscosity.2 In the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study, we confirmed our hypotheses that plasma and blood viscosity were predictors of coronary heart disease events (as in observational studies)3 and that pravastatin lowered viscosity (by about a quarter of 1 SD).2 Plasma and blood viscosity might also be predictors of stroke,4 and plasma viscosity had an inverse association with cognitive performance in the Caerphilly Study of men aged 55–69 years.5 We agree with Jick and colleagues’ conclusion that further studies of the association of statins and dementia are required. Workers in such studies should consider including viscosity measurements to test our hypothesis. *Gordon Lowe, Ann Rumley, Christopher Packard, James Shepherd University Departments of *Medicine and Clinical Biochemistry, Royal Infirmary, Glasgow G31 2ER, UK
1
2
Richard E Kast Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05401, USA (e-mail: [email protected]) 1
2
Jick H, Zornberg GL, Jick SS, Seshadri S, Drachman DA. Statins and the risk of dementia. Lancet 2000; 356: 1627–31. Schubert P, Morino T, Miyazaki H, et al. Cascading glia reactions: a common pathomechanism and its differentiated control by cyclic nucleotide signaling. Ann N Y Acad Sci 2000; 903: 24–33.
Yuan L, Neufeld AH. TNF: a potentially neurodestructive cytokine produced by glia in the human glaucomatous nerve head. Glia 2000; 32: 42–50. Viviani B, Corsini E, Galli CL, et al. Dying neural cells activate glia through the release of a protease product. Glia 2000; 32: 84–90. Rosenson RS, Tangney CC, Casey LC. Inhibition of proinflammatory cytokine production by pravastatin. Lancet 1999; 353: 983–84.
3
4
5
Jick H, Zornberg GL, Jick SS, Seshadri S, Drachman DA. Statins and the risk of dementia. Lancet 2000; 356: 1627–31. Lowe GDO, Rumley A, Norrie J, et al. Blood rheology, cardiovascular risk factors, and cardiovascular disease: the West of Scotland Coronary Prevention Study. Thromb Haemost 2000; 84: 553–58. Danesh J, Collins R, Peto R, Lowe GDO. Haematocrit, viscosity, erythrocyte sedimentation rate: meta-analyses of prospective studies of coronary heart disease. Eur Heart J 2000; 21: 515–20. Lowe GDO, Lee AJ, Rumley A, Price JF, Fowkes FGR. Blood viscosity and risk of cardiovascular events: the Edinburgh Artery Study. Br J Haematol 1997; 96: 168–73. Elwood PC, Pickering J, Gallacher JEJ. Cognitive function and blood rheology: results from the Caerphilly Cohort of older men. Age Ageing (in press).
881
For personal use only. Reproduce with permission from The Lancet Publishing Group.