Study Ties Commonly Prescribed Statins to Memory Impairment

A latest study has discovered a strong link between commonly prescribed statins and memory impairment.

The new study conducted by a team of researchers at the University of Bristol analyzed the effect of the commonly prescribed statin medicines, which are used to lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or bad cholesterol in the blood levels, on cognitive functions.

For this study the researchers analyzed the two commonly prescribed statins namely pravastatin (brand name-pravachol) and atorvostatin (brand name - Lipitor).

The two statins were tested in rat learning and memory models. The  rats were treated with pravastatin and atorvostatin for 18 days. Before and after the treatment the rodents were tested in simple learning tasks where they had to learn the source from where they can find a food reward.

Later, on the last day of the treatment and following one week of withdrawal the rats were tested in a task that measured their ability to identify an object they had previously encountered.

The researchers noted the drug parastatin impaired the rodents' learning over the last few days of treatment and once the treatment was ceased the effect of the statin was reversed. Paravastatin impaired object recognition memory. Compared to parastatin no such effects were observed in atorovostatin in both the tasks conducted.

The study results highlight the fact that chronic treatment using pravastatin has the ability to impair working and recognition memory in rodents. And the lack of the effect of atorvostatin indicates that some statins can trigger cognitive impairment in the patient.

"This finding is novel and likely reflects both the anecdotal reports and FDA advice. What is most interesting is that it is not a feature of all statins. However, in order to better understand the relationship between statin treatment and cognitive function, further studies are needed," Neil Marrion, Professor of Neuroscience at Bristol's School of Physiology and Pharmacology and the study's lead author, concluded.

The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.