Date:29/07/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/07/29/stories/2008072950882000.htm

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Blood pressure drugs tip for Alzheimer’s

Ian Sample

Major study holds out double advantage

ARBs lower chance of developing disease by 40%
Stroke sufferers respond best to medication effects

London: Doctors are to launch an investigation into a group of drugs used to treat high blood pressure, after a study found they may cut the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

People taking the drugs, known as angiotensin receptor blockers, or ARBs, had a 35-40 per cent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease and similar neurodegenerative disorders, according to medical records of more than five million patients.

Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine said the drugs also appeared to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease, reducing deaths, admissions to nursing homes and certain symptoms of the condition by up to 45 per cent.

The findings are so striking that doctors heading the study have been given immediate funds to investigate the medical records of a further three million patients.

If the drugs’ effects are confirmed, they could potentially transform the treatment of a disease that leads to serious debilitation and sometimes death in 15 million to 20 million people worldwide, and which has been estimated to cost around $250 billion a year in treatment and care.

Benjamin Wolozin, Professor of pharmacology, used a huge database of medical records held by the U.S. Department of Health to compare the health of patients who took ARBs with those who took other drugs.

“When we took account of the effects of age and cardiovascular disease, strokes and diabetes, or anything else that could influence a patient’s outcome, these medications still looked very impressive. Potentially, this will have a large public health impact,” Professor Wolozin said. The drugs were of most benefit to patients who had experienced a stroke.

Of the 700,000 people in Britain who have dementia, more than half have Alzheimer’s. As the population ages, that number is expected to rise to nearly a million in less than 20 years.

Professor Wolozin, who was due to announce details of the study at the international conference on Alzheimer’s disease in Chicago, was uncertain about precisely how the drugs protect against dementia.

Any drug that reduces high BP should lower the risk of dementia to some extent, but ARBs seem to have a much larger benefit than expected. — © Guardian Newspapers Limited, 2008