Early initiation of statins after diagnosis of type 2 diabetes associated with a lower risk of dementia
Early initiation of statins after diagnosis of type 2 diabetes was associated with a lower risk of dementia, according to a study presented at ESC Congress 2026 and published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.
A Danish study presented at the ESC Congress 2026 found that early initiation of statins after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is associated with a lower risk of dementia. Type 2 diabetes and high levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) are both known risk factors for cognitive decline and dementia. Early statin treatment within one year of diabetes diagnosis was linked to a 15% lower relative risk of dementia over 10 years, while late statin initiation between one and five years after diagnosis was associated with a 10% lower risk.
The study, conducted using medical records from Danish registers, followed 132,585 statin-naive patients with type 2 diabetes from 2006 to 2019. The results indicate that statins may be underused in patients with type 2 diabetes, despite their cardiovascular benefits, and suggest that initiating statin treatment soon after a diabetes diagnosis could provide a modest reduction in dementia risk.
However, the observational design of the study does not allow for causal inference, and further research is needed to confirm these findings.
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