title: Long-term statin therapy is associated with better episodic memory in aged familial hypercholesterolemia patients in comparison with population controls.
abstract: The cognitive status of aged familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) patients treated with long-term statin therapy was compared with that of population controls. A comprehensive cohort of 43 elderly (age > or = 65 years) patients all with the same FH North Karelia mutation living in North Karelia (eastern Finland) was identified, 37 of whom (aged 65 to 84 years) agreed to participate. All but one of these FH patients had been using statins for approximately 15 years. Population-based controls (aged 65 to 84 years, n= 309) were the participants of the Health 2000 Survey living in eastern Finland. The cognitive assessment was conducted with tests for verbal fluency, Word List Learning (WLL) and Word List Delayed Recall (WLDR) subtests in the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's disease test battery. After adjustment for age, gender, education, diabetes mellitus, and coronary heart disease, FH patients were more likely to be in the top tertile of the WLDR (Odds ratio (OR) 3.40, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.52-7.63) and WLL3 (OR 2.83, 95% CI 1.28-6.25) subtests. When the FH patients were subdivided according to the median length of their statin therapy, the ORs to be in the top tertile in the WLDR subtest were 1.65 (95% CI 0.52-5.25) for those with less and 5.40 (95% CI 1.74-17.72) in those individuals with more than median length of statin therapy. In conclusion, aged FH patients receiving long-term statin therapy exhibited better episodic memory than population controls, and this association became even more pronounced with longer statin therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, North Karelia Central Hospital, Joensuu, Finland. laura.hyttinen@pkssk.fi
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hyttinen
authors.forename: Annamari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: TuulioHenriksson
authors.forename: Alpo F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Vuorio
authors.forename: Noora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kuosmanen
authors.forename: Tommi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Härkänen
authors.forename: Seppo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koskinen
authors.forename: Timo E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Strandberg
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D019161:Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors