NSAIDs May Offer Protection Against Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects approximately 4 million older Americans, and for which there is no known cure. Until recently, pharmacological therapies have demonstrated limited effects in delaying onset of the disease and in treating cognitive and behavioral symptoms.

Researchers from the University of Toronto and the University of Washington collected data from nine studies that evaluated the use of NSAIDs in 15,834 patients with Alzheimer's disease. Using this data they conducted two separate analyses: one that explored the risk of Alzheimer's in users of all types of NSAIDs, and one that explored that risk among those who used aspirin only. They were interested in studying the effect of aspirin as some studies have suggested that its mechanism of action differs from that of other NSAIDs.

The research was led by Mahyar Etminan, a pharmacoepidemiologist formerly at the University of Toronto, and now at Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal.

The pooled relative risk of Alzheimer's among current users of NSAIDs was found to be 0.72 (95% CI = 0.56-0.94), while the pooled relative risk for aspirin users was 0.87 (95% CI = 0.70-1.07).

The lack of a statistically significant benefit with aspirin use may be related to the smaller number of subjects in studies involving aspirin. It is also possible that aspirin may be less beneficial than other NSAIDs.

One explanation may be that aspirin may have less anti-inflammatory effect at the lower doses commonly prescribed for the prevention of cardiovascular events than the doses typically used for NSAIDs.

Obviously, appropriate dosage, duration and risk-benefit ratios will need to be pursued further, concluded Etminan. Future prospective studies will help answer these questions over time.

The American Academy of Neurology, an association of more than 18,000 neurologists and neuroscience professionals, is dedicated to improving patient care through education and research. For more information about the American Academy of Neurology, visit its online press room at http://www.aan.com/press/index.cfm.