Affiliations: [a] IQVIA, Epidemiology, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| [b]
Institute for Social Medicine, Occupational Medicine, and Public Health (ISAP) of the Medical Faculty at the University of Leipzig
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Prof. Dr. rer. med. Karel Kostev, PhD, Epidemiology IQVIA, Unterschweinstiege 2-14, 60549 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Tel.: +49 (0)69 66 04 4878; E-mail: karel.kostev@iqvia.com.
Abstract: Background:No studies have been conducted to date on the association between low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), statin use classified into low, medium, and high statin dosages, and dementia in German general practices. Objective:The goal of this retrospective case-control study was to investigate the relationship between elevated LDL-C, statins, and dementia in elderly persons followed in general practices in Germany. Methods:This study included patients aged 65 or older with an initial dementia diagnosis between January 2015 and December 2019 and at least one documented LDL-C value within the year prior to the dementia diagnosis. These patients were treated in one of 963 general practices which document LDL-C in Germany. Dementia cases were matched to non-dementia controls using propensity scores based on age, sex, and comorbidities. Logistic regression models were conducted to assess a possible association between accelerated LDL-C, statins, and dementia. Results:The study included 12,236 patients with dementia and 12,236 non-dementia controls. In total, 2,528 of the dementia patients were diagnosed with vascular dementia. The use of all dosages of statin use was negatively associated with all-cause dementia (OR: 0.80 for low dose, OR: 0.92 for medium dose, and OR: 0.85 for high dose) and with vascular dementia (OR: 0.61 for low dose, OR: 0.77 for medium dose, and OR: 0.74 for high dose). There was no clinically relevant association between elevated LDL-C and dementia. Conclusion:A negative association was found between all dosage use of statin therapy and all-cause dementia and vascular dementia in elderly patients in general practices in Germany.
