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Ibuprofen linked to lower Alzheimer's risk

06/05/2008

Long-term use of the painkiller ibuprofen has been linked to a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease by a study in America.

The research found that people who used ibuprofen for over five years were more than 40 per cent less likely to develop the form of dementia.

Scientists also found that the longer ibuprofen was used, the lower the risk of dementia was.

The team from the Boston University School of Medicine made the links after studying nearly 50,000 US veterans aged over 55 who developed Alzheimer's disease and 196,850 veterans without dementia.

Scientists studied over five years of data, including the use of several non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

As well as the specific ibuprofen link, they found that people who used certain types of NSAIDS, for more than five years were 25 per cent less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease.

Writing in the journal Neurology, the researchers say that while other NSAIDs such as indomethacin may have been associated with lower dementia risk, others including celecoxib did not affect risk.

"These results suggest that the effect may be due to specific NSAIDs rather than all NSAIDs as a class," said study author Dr Steven Vlad.

"Some of these medications taken long-term decrease the risk of Alzheimer's disease, but it's very dependent on the exact drugs used. It doesn't appear that all NSAIDs decrease the risk at the same rate.

"One reason ibuprofen may have come out so far ahead is that it is by far the most commonly used."

Professor Clive Ballard, research director at the Alzheimer's Society, described the findings as "interesting" and said they add to evidence of the protective effects of long-term NSAID use against Alzheimer's disease.

"Whilst this is important research it does not mean that people should start taking ibuprofen to reduce their risk of developing dementia," he added.

"Long term use of NSAIDs is associated with a number of very significant side effects. It is now up to researchers to use these results in the development of future treatments for Alzheimer's disease."