A groundbreaking analysis reveals that older adults taking a combination of medications for high blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes showed slower cognitive decline compared to those taking fewer medications.
The impact is significant. The cognitive benefits were equivalent to being 3 years younger than the average age in the study sample.
The research tracked over 4600 older adults without dementia, documenting their medication use and cognitive function over approximately 9 years. The findings were remarkable: Those taking all three medication classes showed notably slower decline in global cognition, particularly in semantic and working memory.
In a deeper analysis of nearly 1900 deceased participants, those who had been taking the combination therapy showed significantly lower odds of various brain pathologies, including reduced atherosclerosis and less global Alzheimer’s disease pathology.
While these results are promising, researchers emphasize that additional studies are needed before making definitive clinical recommendations.
This content was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.