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AHA Scientific Sessions 2026 Abstract

Statin use linked to lower dementia risk in heart patients

High-intensity statin use was linked to lower dementia risk than no statin use, with a relative risk measure called a hazard ratio of 0.54.

Paper by Rubab Mansoor, Jianhui Zhu, Floyd W Thoma, Hongtian Wang, Anum Saeed · UPMC
A large dark blue-green brain with broad folds sits beside a smaller gray brain with thinner folds, a heart with branching vessels, and small faceless people.

Our read

Populations
Studied:
Cohort study of 47,210 adults with coronary artery disease, against no statin therapy
What changed:
Dementia risk was lower with high-intensity statins than with no statin use (hazard ratio 0.54)
The catch:
Differences in health or care between statin users and nonusers could explain the association
In the record:
The 731st paper on statins with results in people; 1,931 on record in all.
Why it’s aging research:
It studies an intervention with evidence of extending healthy life.

Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News

Paper
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The 47,210 adults in this observational cohort had coronary artery disease and underwent procedures to reopen or bypass heart arteries within the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center system between 2010 and 2020. Researchers compared high-intensity, moderate- or low-intensity, and no statin therapy. Statins are cholesterol-lowering medicines. The team identified dementia through diagnosis codes and Alzheimer-specific medicines recorded in electronic health records.

After adjustment for cardiovascular risk factors, high-intensity statin use was associated with an all-cause dementia hazard ratio of 0.54 compared with no statin use. Moderate- or low-intensity use had a hazard ratio of 0.76. Values below one indicate lower relative risk over time. The researchers reported similar associations for Alzheimer disease.

Why it matters

Cardiovascular and metabolic problems have been linked to cognitive decline. The findings bear on whether therapies targeting cardiovascular risk might also influence dementia risk.

Caveats

Differences in health or care between statin users and nonusers could help account for the associations despite adjustment. These conference-abstract findings concern adults with coronary artery disease who underwent procedures, not the general population.

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