Concerns about the effects of statins on health-related quality of life may keep physicians from enrolling older patients in clinical trials assessing the effectiveness of this class of drugs as a preventive therapy for Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers at the University of Wisconsin Medical School.

Health-related quality of life includes issues such as health perception, depression, physical function, cognitive function and sleep behavior.

Researchers conducted a study to determine the effects of pravastatin and vitamin E, alone and in combination, on health-related quality of life in older adults. A total of 41 men and women age 70 and older participated in the study.

Participants received pravastatin for six months then pravastatin plus vitamin E for an additional six months (group 1), or vitamin E for six months then pravastatin plus vitamin E for an additional six months (group 2). Dosages were 20 mg of pravastatin daily and 400IU of vitamin E daily.

Health-related quality of life factors were measured at the start of the study, after six months and after one year. Also, data on adverse effects and laboratory abnormalities were obtained.

Pravastatin reduced levels of total cholesterol and LDL. Health-related quality of life scores, physical adverse effects, muscle enzyme levels and liver function tests did not change after 12 months of therapy with pravastatin, vitamin E or a combination of the two, according to the study published in the journal Drugs and Aging.

"Both pravastatin and tocopherol [vitamin E] have a good safety profile, are well tolerated and do not adversely affect health-related quality of life in older patients with hypercholesterolaemia [high cholesterol]," the researchers concluded.

"Given the significant beneficial cardiovascular effects of statin therapy in older adults and the potential role of statins in prevention of Alzheimer's disease, concerns about adverse effects on quality of life should not deter use of these medications in this population," they added.

Other sources: Drugs and Aging