Medical News Today Quotes Dr. Williams: Long-term ibuprofen, aspirin use linked to lower Alzheimer’s risk

Researchers had an average follow-up time with participants of 14.5 years. During the follow-up, 81.3% of participants used NSAIDs.

Just under 6% of participants used only NSAIDs that did not have beta-amyloid-42-lowering properties, and about 46% used a combination of non-beta-amyloid-42-lowering and beta-amyloid-42-lowering NSAIDs.

A little over 2,000 participants developed dementia.

Short-term and intermediate-term use of NSAIDs slightly increased the risk for all-cause dementia, while long-term NSAID use decreased the risk.

The association between long-term NSAID use and reduced risk for Alzheimer’s disease was even stronger than for all-cause dementia.

They also found that non-beta-amyloid-42-lowering NSAIDs appeared to lower the risk for all-cause dementia more than beta-amyloid-42-lowering NSAIDs.

Researchers did not find an association between cumulative NSAID dose and dementia risk reduction. They also found that NSAIDs did not appear to lower the risk for all-cause dementia among participants who had the APOE-e4 allele.

The APOE-e4 allele is a form of a gene and having it can increase a person’s risk for Alzheimer’s disease.

Vernon Williams, MD, a sports neurologist and founding director of the Center for Sports Neurology and Pain Medicine at Cedars-Sinai Orthopaedics in Los Angeles, who was not involved in this research, commented with his thoughts on the study to Medical News Today.

He told us:

“I think it’s very interesting in that it is another piece of evidence that will hopefully contribute to our understanding of dementia and opportunities to reduce risk. There are some limitations to an observational study like this, but overall, it seems to be in line with other evidence and past studies that suggest inflammation as having a key role in neurodegeneration […] It further contributes to the understanding of chronic inflammation as a target for additional study and intervention.”