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Alzheimer's medication could help to reduce heart attack risk

Wednesday 5th June 2013
Image: Thinkstock
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Forms of medication that are commonly used to treat patients in the early stage of Alzheimer's disease have been linked to reducing the risk of heart attacks.

Researchers at Umea University in Umea, Sweden, carried out a study assessing 7,000 people that had developed Alzheimer's and looked at the numerous drugs they were prescribed to control their condition. These included cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) such as donepezil, rivastigmine and galantamine which are used to treat people in varying stages of Alzheimer's ranging from mild to moderate.

The Swedish team explained that one of the side effects of ChEIs is the beneficial role it has on the vagus nerve that is able to control the rate at which the heart beats. This was found to play a role in reducing the risk of a patient having a heart attack.

Over a three-year period the researchers looked at the various medications that the people who were on the Swedish Dementia Registry were taking to help their recovery.

Professor Peter Nordstrom, lead author of the study, and his colleagues found that those patients who were taking ChEIs had a 36 per cent reduced risk of death from any cause. They also cut their chance of having a heart attack by 38 per cent and 26 per cent of any cardiovascular causes such as stroke or coronary heart disease.

People who were taking the highest recommended doses of ChEIs saw their heart attack or death chances drop by 65 per cent and 46 per cent respectively compared against those that were not taking the medication.

Professor Nordstrom said: "As far as we know, this is the first time that the use of ChEIs has been linked to a reduced risk of heart attacks and deaths from cardiovascular disease in general or from any cause. As this is an observational study, we cannot say that ChEI use is causing the reduction in risk, only that it is associated with a reduction."

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written by Alex Franklin StortfordADNFCR-1780-ID-801595082-ADNFCR

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