Aspirin may prevent cognitive decline

Aspirin, which has been so far known as a pain reliever, that only helps prevent heart attacks, strokes, and some forms of cancer, but may even help stave off Alzheimer’s disease has been found to help stave off Alzheimer’s disease.


A cheap, over-the-counter medicine to guard against memory loss could be a groundbreaking discovery, given that about 25 percent of Americans ages 70 and older suffer from dementia (memory-robbing disorders like Alzheimer’s disease) or cognitive impairment, the earliest sign of the disease, Yahoo News reports, citing a recent Mayo Clinic study published in Neurology.


The BMJ researchers tracked the brain health of 681 Swedish women ages 70 to 92. At the start of study, none of the women suffered from dementia, but 95 percent were at high risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). All of the women were given a battery of memory and cognitive tests known as the mini-mental state exam.


When the exam was repeated five years later, scores fell, on average. However, women who had consistently taken low-dose aspirin during the study actuallyincreased their scores, compared to never-users. The study didn’t find any brain benefit in women who regularly took other non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen or naproxen.


While there were no differences in dementia rates in the two groups, the strikingly higher scores on the memory and cognitive tests among aspirin users lead the researchers to report, “Our study suggests a neuroprotective effect of aspirin, at least for elderly women at high cardiovascular risk. Longer follow-ups are needed to evaluate the long-term effect of aspirin on cognitive function and dementia.”