Posted by jrbecker on August 20, 2003, at 10:00:33
Interesting, but possibly still-inconclusive findings, since just the opposite was thought prior to this study regarding cholesterol's role in depression. I can see a lot of other variables that were not controlled for that could point the causation in either direction. In other words, I wouldn't go out and stock up on your Lipitor quite yet...
Cholesterol Drug May Also Prevent Depression
Tue Aug 19, 5:32 PM ETNEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Long-term treatment with cholesterol-lowering "statins" -- drugs like Zocor or Lipitor (news - web sites) -- seems to be good not only for the heart but also for mental health, researchers in Boston report.
That news, while welcome, is somewhat unexpected. More than a decade ago, vigorous cholesterol lowering was actually linked with depression and violent behavior, Dr. Charles M. Blatt, of the Harvard School of Public Health, and associates point out in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
To investigate, Dr. Blatt's team followed a group of patients receiving statin treatment to treat high cholesterol levels. Beginning in 1994, the researchers enrolled 140 patients who were continuously prescribed statins and another 219 patients who used the drugs intermittently. They were compared with 231 people who had never been prescribed a cholesterol-lowering drug.
"Statins seem to be associated with a reduced risk of anxiety, depression and hostility," co-author Yinong Young-Xu commented in a press release. "We saw somewhere between a 30 to 40 percent reduction of risk."
Furthermore, the researchers found, the odds of mental illness continued to decline with each additional year of statin treatment.
"Although this study does not demonstrate that statin use itself caused increases in positive well-being, it certainly supports that possibility," Dr. C. Keith Haddock, of the University of Missouri, Kansas City, said in the press statement.
On the other hand, "It also suggests that factors related to coronary artery disease may have rendered the patient vulnerable to negative mood and that statin reversed that process."
Whatever the exact cause-and effect, the study helps dispel concerns about the psychological side effects of lowering cholesterol.
SOURCE: Journal of the American College of Cardiology, August 2003.
poster:jrbecker
thread:252444
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030818/msgs/252444.html