Drugs to treat erectile dysfunctionamong them Viagra, could be associated with a lower risk of suffering from Alzheimer disease, as revealed by an investigation of almost 270,000 men who suffered from sexual impotence. The study, published by Neurology, indicated an observed association between the use of the medications and neurodegenerative disease.
“The possibility that there are already drugs with potential benefit for Alzheimer’s disease is an encouraging result and justifies further research,” said the author of the work. Ruth Brauer of the University College London, in the United Kingdom. The same researcher highlighted: “We desperately need treatments that can prevent or delay the development of Alzheimer’s disease.”
“If the suggested association is finally demonstrated, phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors, drugs that constitute a pillar in the treatment of erectile dysfunction, could also be used in neurodegenerative disease. These medications work by dilating blood vessels to allow more blood to flow,” explained the person responsible for the study.
This case would not be the first therapeutic repositioning of this type of medication: sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra, was originally developed for pulmonary arterial hypertension and angina pectoris. The notable side effect detected in the patients who received it marked the new direction of this pill to treat male sexual dysfunctions.
“More research is needed to confirm these findings, learn more about the potential benefits and mechanisms of these medications, and examine optimal dosing,” Bauer said, adding: “A randomized controlled trial with male and female participants to determine whether these findings would apply also to women.”
The association between these drugs and the lower risk of Alzheimer’s was seen when reviewing the clinical history of 269,725 participants males with a mean age of 59 years who had recently been diagnosed with erectile dysfunction. These men did not have any memory or cognition problems at the beginning of the study. They were followed for an average of five years, in which 55 percent of participants who were prescribed erectile dysfunction drugs were compared to 45 percent who had no prescriptions. During the study, 1,119 people developed Alzheimer’s disease.
The research adjusted for other factors that could affect the rate of Alzheimer’s disease, such as age, smoking and alcohol consumption. They found that people who took erectile dysfunction medications were 18 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s than people who didn’t.
The association was stronger in those who were issued more prescriptions during the study period. One of the limitations of the work is that it is based on prescription records, but the researchers are not certain about the participants’ use of those prescriptions.
“The study is limited by the challenge of establishing causal relationships in epidemiological studies. Additionally, these types of drugs are often taken as needed, so it is difficult to know how much was actually taken and how often,” he said. Ivan Koychev, iPrincipal clinical investigator of the UK Dementia Platform, University of Oxford.
The evaluations of other experts collected by SMC of the United Kingdom also indicate that, although there is no conclusive evidence that links the drugs with the lower risk of Alzheimer’s, the results do support more research. “It is worth continuing to study this type of drugs in the future,” he said. Tara Spiers-Jones, president of the British Neuroscience Association and professor of UK Dementia Research Institute at the University of Edinburgh.
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