Early statin therapy may lower risk for dementia in people with diabetes type 2
Key takeaways:
• Statin initiation after diagnosis of diabetes may lower risk for developing dementia vs. no statin initiation.
• Treating CV risk factors may also prevent cognitive decline in people with diabetes.
ESC MUNICH
Statin initiation after a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes was associated with lower absolute and relative risk for all-cause dementia compared with no statin initiation, a speaker reported.
The effect was most pronounced in patients who initiated statin therapy within 1 year of their type 2 diabetes diagnosis, according to the researchers.
Data derived from Ternhamar T, et al. Diabetes and the heart: Pharmacotherapy. Presented at: European Society of Cardiology Congress; Aug. 28-31, 2026; Munich.
Addressing traditional CV risk factors could also prevent development of dementia among people with diabetes, according to data presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress and simultaneously published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.
“As we become better at treating some of the main killers, like heart disease, cancers and infectious diseases, we are seeing a progressively aging population, globally. We all see a large burden of dementia, especially in diabetes. As we don’t have any cure for dementia, attention has turned toward preventing it by targeting some of the cardiovascular risk factors that we see. Diabetes and elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol have been highlighted as two such risk factors,” Tummas Ternhamar, MD, clinical researcher at Copenhagen University Hospital and University of Copenhagen, Denmark, said during a presentation. “What we wanted to test was the hypothesis that early statin treatment at the point when a type 2 diabetes diagnosis is made is associated with lower risk of dementia [compared with] delayed initiation.”
Ternhamar and colleagues used nationwide registry data gathered from 2006 to 2019 to identify 132,585 individuals with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes who were statin-naive. Participants were sorted into one of three categories: no statin initiation within 5 years after diabetes diagnosis; early statin initiation within 1 year of diagnosis; and late statin initiation at 1 to 5 years after diabetes diagnosis.
Participants were followed for a median of 7.1 years, and the primary outcome was 10-year risk for all-cause dementia, with death treated as a competing risk.
The researchers estimated that the 10-year absolute risk for dementia was 3.9% among patients who did not initiate a statin after diabetes diagnosis; 3.3% among those who initiated early; and 3.5% among those who initiated late after diabetes diagnosis.
Compared with no statin initiation, early statin treatment was associated with a 15% lower 10-year relative risk for dementia (95% CI, 9%-21%) and late statin initiation was associated with a 10% lower 10-year relative risk for dementia (95% CI, 3%-15%), according to the study.
The researchers estimated that early statin initiation after diabetes diagnosis was associated with an absolute risk difference of 0.59% (95% CI, 0.34%-0.86%) while late statin initiation was associated with a 0.38% absolute risk difference (95% CI, 0.12%-0.61%) compared with no statin initiation.
“In statin-naive individuals who developed diabetes, statin therapy was associated with a lower relative and absolute risk of dementia, which was most pronounced in those with early statin initiation,” Ternhamar said during the presentation. “It highlights potential for targeting some of the traditional cardiovascular risk factors, LDL cholesterol in this case, for improving brain health and dementia risk.”
Source:
Ternhamar T, et al. Diabetes and the heart: Pharmacotherapy. Presented at: European Society of Cardiology Congress; Aug. 28-31, 2026; Munich.
Reference:
Ternhamar T, et al. Lancet Reg Health Eur. 2026;doi:10.1016/j.lanepe.2026.101814.
Disclosures:
Ternhamar reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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