Nutritional Advice El Mondo
Objectives:
Does a high LDL cholesterol level (bad cholesterol) increase risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD)?
Study design:
This review article included 26 case-control studies involving 7,033 participants (2,266 Alzheimer's disease patients and 4,767 non-dementia controls).
There was no significant evidence of publication bias according to the results of Egger's test [p = 0.084].
Results and conclusions:
The investigators found results from the meta-analysis of 26 studies revealed higher levels of LDL cholesterol (>121 mg/dL) in Alzheimer's disease than that of non-dementia controls [SMD = 0.35, 95% CI = 0.12 to 0.58, p 0.01], which was consistent with the results of the fixed-effect model [SMD = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.10 to 0.22, p 0.01].
Sensitivity analyses showed that no single study exerted substantial influence on the pooled effect size after sequentially omitting a study.
The investigators found subgroup analysis of age showed LDL cholesterol levels in Alzheimer's disease patients aged 60-70 were higher than that of non-dementia [60 ≤ age 70: SMD = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.23 to 1.37, p 0.01].
The investigators concluded that elevated concentration of LDL cholesterol (>121 mg/dL) is a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. This strong association is significant in patients with Alzheimer's disease aged 60-70 years, but vanishes with increasing age. This review article provides a promising strategy for reducing the risk of Alzheimer's disease in patients with hyperlipidemia, which may be achieved by regulating LDL cholesterol concentration between 103.9 and 121 mg/dL with statins. Prospective studies that exclude potential confounders, more scientific design and adequate long-term follow-up are needed to validate this hypothesis.
Original title:
Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol and Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis by Zhou Z, Liang Y, […], Zhao M.
Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7002548/
Additional information of El Mondo:
Find more information/studies on cholesterol and Alzheimer's disease right here.