News briefs

Statins not associated with cognitive decline or dementia

The use of statin therapy in adults aged 65 years or older is not associated with incident dementia, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or decline in individual cognition domains, according to Australian research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Researchers from the Menzies Institute for Medical Research, Monash University and Curtin University analysed data from the ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) trial. ASPREE was a large prospective, randomised placebo‐controlled trial of daily low‐dose aspirin, which included 19 114 participants aged 65 years or older with no previous cardiovascular event, dementia or major physical disability, between 2010 and 2014 from Australia and the United States. After exclusions for missing values for cognitive test scores and/or covariates at baseline, 18 846 participants were grouped by their baseline statin use versus non‐statin use, with 5898 (31.3%) of participants taking statins. After a median of 4.7 years of follow‐up, researchers found 566 incident cases of dementia (including probable Alzheimer disease [AD] and mixed presentations). Compared with no statin use, statin use was not associated with risk of all‐cause dementia, probable AD or mixed presentations of dementia. There were 380 incident cases of myocardial infarction (MI) found (including MI consistent with AD and MI‐other). Compared with no statin use, statin use was not associated with risk of MI, MI consistent with AD, or other MI. There was no statistically significant difference in the change of composite cognition and any individual cognitive domains between statin users compared with non‐statin users. No significant differences were found in any of the outcomes of interest between users of hydrophilic and lipophilic statins. However, researchers did find interaction effects between baseline cognitive ability and statin therapy for all dementia outcomes.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0735109721049615

Gender‐diverse teens have more mental health problems than cis peers

US scientists looked at medical records of 200 adolescents who participated in a 2‐week acute residential treatment program for psychiatric disorders, including 35 transgender and gender diverse (TGD) youths, to compare mental health issues between LGBTQI teens and their cis‐gendered peers. Compared with the cis‐gendered teens, LGBTQI youths were more likely to have developed depression at an earlier age, were more likely to have suicidal thoughts and impulses, were more likely to self‐harm, and were more likely to have been traumatised or abused during childhood, the researchers reported. Following the program, both groups’ symptoms of depression and anxiety had improved, and all participants were better at regulating their emotions. “As the rate of TGD adolescents seeking mental health care is increasing, it is encouraging that even nonspecialised treatment (ie, those not tailored to needs of gender minority populations), such as a general, acute residential treatment program, can be successful in reducing clinical symptoms in TGD youth,” the authors concluded. “Importantly, there is a call to action for health care clinicians to more thoroughly screen and sensitively assess youth who identify as a gender minority, in an effort to provide the most effective treatment for this vulnerable psychiatric population.” The research was published in JAMA Network Open.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2781114