Statins, Cholesterol & Dementia – a Korean study

Summary

* A population study involving over 100,000 people from south Korea has been published. It aimed to examine the association between LDL-Cholesterol (LDL-C) and the risk of dementia and to assess the impact of statins in this context.

* It was unusual in a number of ways. It split participants into those with LDL-C below 70 mg/dL (1.8 mmol/L) and those with LDL-C equal to or above 130 mg/dL (3.4 mmol/L).

* The people in these two groups were strikingly different in many important ways – age, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease. We're talking many multiples different – not just a few percentage points.

* The researchers didn’t report the raw incident rates for dementia, but those in the lower LDL-C group would have had far higher incidence of dementia (due to age and other health factors).

* The study used an adjustment technique called (computer) Propensity Score matching.

* After this adjustment, the study claimed everything flipped over and the lower LDL-C group had a 26% reduction in the risk of all cause dementia and those on statins had a 13% reduction in the risk of all cause dementia. I don't believe that.