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59/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 59 out of 100. Drug development

Topic: Amyloid, tau and blood-test diagnosis

Plain-language summary

Context 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) have been associated with a decreased risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Objective To evaluate the association between statin use and AD adjusted for comorbid medical conditions. Design A nested case-control study. Patients Patients at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Birmingham, Ala., USA with a new diagnosis of AD (cases) between 1997 and 2001 (n = 309) and age-matched non-AD controls (n = 3,088). Main outcome measure Odds ratio for association between AD and statin use. Results Statin users had a 39% lower risk of AD relative to nonstatin users (odds ratio 0.61, 95% confidence interval 0.42-0.87). This association appeared to be modified by the presence of certain chronic medical conditions (i.e., hypertension, ischemic heart disease and cerebrovascular disease) in that the reduced risk was observed among those with these diseases, whereas no association was observed among those without any of these conditions. Conclusions In this study, following adjustment for confounding factors, a statistically significant inverse association between statin use and AD was observed. The results lend support to looking at AD outcomes in trials of statins to further evaluate their possible beneficial effects.

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

APA 7th

Zamrini, E., McGwin, G., & Roseman, J. M. (2004). Association between statin use and Alzheimer's disease. Neuroepidemiology. https://doi.org/10.1159/000073981

Vancouver

Zamrini E, McGwin G, Roseman JM. Association between statin use and Alzheimer's disease. Neuroepidemiology. 2004. doi:10.1159/000073981. PMID: 14739574.

BibTeX

@article{zamrini2004-14739574,
  author  = {Zamrini, E. and McGwin, G. and Roseman, J. M.},
  title   = {{Association between statin use and Alzheimer's disease}},
  journal = {Neuroepidemiology},
  year    = {2004},
  doi     = {10.1159/000073981},
  pmid    = {14739574},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1159/000073981}
}

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How to read this study

Design: this is a case-control study. People with the condition are compared with people without it, looking backward at past exposures. Recall of the past can be uneven between the groups, and the design shows association, not cause.
Size: the record lists 309 participants. Ask whether that is enough for the question, and who they were.
Effect: the record gives no effect size, so the summary above cannot say how large any difference was.

What the evidence grade means here

This page is graded moderate. alzhub.org assigns the grade automatically from keywords in the abstract, not from reading the paper. Moderate means the abstract mentions a cohort, case-control or longitudinal design. It can add at most 5 of the 100 points in the study score, and it is a label about design, not a verdict on whether the findings are true.

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Key findings

Context 3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase inhibitors (statins) have been associated with a decreased risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Results Statin users had a 39% lower risk of AD relative to nonstatin users (odds ratio 0.61, 95% confidence interval 0.42-0.87).
Conclusions In this study, following adjustment for confounding factors, a statistically significant inverse association between statin use and AD was observed.
The results lend support to looking at AD outcomes in trials of statins to further evaluate their possible beneficial effects.

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Study details

Study designcase-control study
Participants309
Evidence strengthModerate

How this study scored 59/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a case-control study. Scored zero for effect reported and randomized / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multicenter collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 34 of the 58 points we could judge it on, which is 59 out of 100.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Neuroepidemiology)
Journal's citation record	— / 4	No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score
Study design	6 / 12	A case-control study
Strength of evidence	3 / 5	Rated “moderate” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	1 / 5	2004 — older than 20 years, still counted
Sample size	2 / 4	309 participants
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	3 / 3	Studied in people (participant count stated)
Randomized / blinded	0 / 2	No randomization or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	— / 7	No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score
Citations per year	— / 5	No citation count or no year — left out of this score
Impact for its field and year	— / 6	No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score
Cited by studies here	— / 6	Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score
Still being cited	— / 4	No yearly citation counts — left out of this score
Senior author's track record	— / 4	Senior author's record not available — left out of this score
Institution's track record	— / 3	No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score
Multicenter collaboration	— / 3	Institutions not listed — left out of this score
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 14739574)
Free to read	0 / 2	Behind a paywall — scores zero
Points	34 / 58	Scored on 11 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 34 of the 58 points we could judge it on is 59 out of 100.
Total	59 / 100	—

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