Statins induce a decline in cognition

This paper was published in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy 2006 Oct;40(10):1880-3

Study title and authors:
Simvastatin-induced decline in cognition.

Padala KP, Padala PR, Potter JF.
Geriatrics Section, Department of Internal Medicine, 981320 Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68198-1320, USA. kpadala@unmc.edu

This paper can be accessed at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16940411

This paper describes a case of new-onset cognitive difficulties in an older patient after initiation of simvastatin therapy.

(i) A 64-year-old man developed cognitive difficulties (short-term memory loss, long-term memory loss, and item misplacement) within one week after starting simvastatin 40 mg/day.
(ii) Simvastatin was discontinued, and the patient's cognition improved to normal within six weeks.
(iii) He again tried simvastatin, this time at half the original dose and his cognition deteriorated over a two week period.
(iv) Simvastatin was stopped, and his normal cognition returned within four weeks.

This case shows that statins can induce a decline in cognition.