|
Research Highlights
Cholesterol is Bad for the Brain Too, VA Study Says
Taken from the Veterans Health Administration Highlights dated March 22, 2002
Higher cholesterol levels are not only bad for the heart and blood vessels, they increase the risk of cognitive impairment, the precursor to Alzheimer's disease, according to a study of elderly women by VA researchers.
Women who used cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins scored higher on tests of basic cognitive skills, such as memory, attention, and language, according to lead author Kristine Yaffe, MD, Chief of Geriatric Psychiatry at San Francisco VA Medical Center. Declining scores on cognitive tests are a symptom of early stage Alzheimer's disease.
To look at cholesterol's effects on the brain, Dr. Yaffe and her colleagues analyzed data retrospectively on 1037 women who had participated in a clinical trial of hormone replacement therapy, because the trial had collected data on both cholesterol levels over time and tests of cognitive function. The women completed tasks that measured their abilities in memory, attention, language, orientation, and visual-spatial skills.
Women with the highest LDL-cholesterol levels, and those with the highest total cholesterol levels, had significantly poorer test scores, even after statistically correcting for differences such as age, education, and their use of hormone replacement therapy. Also, women whose cholesterol levels decreased over the four years of the study were less likely to suffer from cognitive impairment, defined as scoring especially low on the tests.
In addition to clogging arteries, and possibly leading to vascular changes in the brain, cholesterol may promote the clumping of a protein called beta-amyloid, which is believed to damage the brain in Alzheimer's disease patients.
|
