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Atorvastatin therapy lowers circulating cholesterol but not free radical activity in advance of identifiable clinical benefit in the treatment of mild-to-moderate AD
Sparks DL, Sabbagh MN, Connor DJ, Lopez J, Launer LJ, Petanceska S, Browne P, Wassar D et al.. Current Alzheimer research, 2005-07-01
Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models
Cholesterol-induced production of amyloid beta (Abeta) as a putative neurotoxin in Alzheimer's disease (AD), along with epidemiological evidence, suggests that statin drugs may provide benefit in treatment of the disorder. Atorvastatin reduced circulating cholesterol levels and produced a positive signal on each of the clinical outcome measures compared to placebo, but did not elicit a difference in circulating SOD or GpX activities. The observed beneficial clinical effect reached significance for the GDS (p = 0.040) and the ADAS-cog at 6 months (p = 0.003), was all but significant for the ADAS-cog (p = 0.055) at 12 months, and was of marginal significance for the CGIC (p = 0.073) and NPI (p = 0.071) at 12 months when employing the primary statistical approach (ANCOVA with LOCF). Application of repeated measures ANCOVA statistics revealed the difference was significant for the CGIC and marginally significant for the ADAS-cog, but not significant for the other clinical indices. This evaluation indicated significant time-by-treatment interactions (altered progression) for the ADAS-cog and MMSE, but not the CGIC. Application of random intercept regression analysis revealed a significant difference for the CGIC, ADAS-cog and MMSE. Regression analysis also indicated that atorvastatin produced change in the slope of deterioration on the MMSE.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Sparks, D. L., Sabbagh, M. N., Connor, D. J., Lopez, J., Launer, L. J., Petanceska, S., et al. (2005). Atorvastatin therapy lowers circulating cholesterol but not free radical activity in advance of identifiable clinical benefit in the treatment of mild-to-moderate AD. Current Alzheimer research. https://doi.org/10.2174/1567205054367900
Vancouver
Sparks DL, Sabbagh MN, Connor DJ, Lopez J, Launer LJ, Petanceska S, et al. Atorvastatin therapy lowers circulating cholesterol but not free radical activity in advance of identifiable clinical benefit in the treatment of mild-to-moderate AD. Current Alzheimer research. 2005. doi:10.2174/1567205054367900. PMID: 15974900.
BibTeX
@article{sparks2005-15974900,
author = {Sparks, D. L. and Sabbagh, M. N. and Connor, D. J. and Lopez, J. and Launer, L. J. and Petanceska, S. and Browne, P. and Wassar, D. and others},
title = {{Atorvastatin therapy lowers circulating cholesterol but not free radical activity in advance of identifiable clinical benefit in the treatment of mild-to-moderate AD}},
journal = {Current Alzheimer research},
year = {2005},
doi = {10.2174/1567205054367900},
pmid = {15974900},
url = {https://doi.org/10.2174/1567205054367900}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- Cholesterol-induced production of amyloid beta (Abeta) as a putative neurotoxin in Alzheimer's disease (AD), along with epidemiological evidence, suggests that statin drugs may provide benefit in treatment of the disorder.
- Atorvastatin reduced circulating cholesterol levels and produced a positive signal on each of the clinical outcome measures compared to placebo, but did not elicit a difference in circulating SOD or GpX activities.
- The observed beneficial clinical effect reached significance for the GDS (p = 0.040) and the ADAS-cog at 6 months (p = 0.003), was all but significant for the ADAS-cog (p = 0.055) at 12 months, and was of marginal significance for the CGIC (p = 0.073) and NPI (p = 0.071) at 12 months when employing the primary statistical approach (ANCOVA with LOCF).
- Application of repeated measures ANCOVA statistics revealed the difference was significant for the CGIC and marginally significant for the ADAS-cog, but not significant for the other clinical indices.
- This evaluation indicated significant time-by-treatment interactions (altered progression) for the ADAS-cog and MMSE, but not the CGIC.
Why it matters
In this trial, atorvastatin lowered circulating cholesterol and showed some positive signals on clinical measures, but the results varied by statistical method and did not show a clear, consistent clinical benefit. It does not establish statins as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease.
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Study details
- Participants98
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 56/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a randomised controlled trial. Scored zero for effect reported because the record does not state it. We have no data on institution's track record, so that was left out: it earned 54 of the 97 points we could judge it on, which is 56 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Current Alzheimer research) |
| Journal's citation record | 1 / 4 | Current Alzheimer Research: journal h-index 119 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 11 / 12 | A randomised controlled trial (from PubMed type “Randomized Controlled Trial”) |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2005 — older than 20 years, still counted |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 98 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) |
| Randomised / blinded | 1 / 2 | Randomised (as stated in the record) |
| Times cited | 4 / 7 | Cited 71 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 2 / 5 | 3.1 citations a year over 23 year(s) since 2005 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 4.8× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 1 / 6 | Cited by 2 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 3 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 1 / 4 | Last-listed author Jeffrey J. Lochhead: h-index 19 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 0 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 0 institution(s) in 0 countries — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete) |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 15974900) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 54 / 97 | Scored on 19 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 54 of the 97 points we could judge it on is 56 out of 100. |
| Total | 56 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
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Later studies that cite this one
2 studies in the alzhub library list this one in their references.
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