Cognitive safety of statin use in the elderly: Evidence from a nationally representative sample

To systematically evaluate the association between current statin use and global cognitive impairment in US older adults and examine potential variations across treatment intensity, duration, and specific cognitive domains to guide clinical cardiometabolic management.

This survey-weighted cross-sectional study included 3137 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2011-2014 participants aged ≥60 years. Cognitive performance across Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer's Disease, animal fluency, and digit symbol substitution test (DSST) was composite-summarized to define impairment (Z-score ← 1.5 standard deviation). Survey-weighted multivariable models adjusted for sociodemographic, lifestyle, cardiometabolic, psychotropic medication, polypharmacy, and substance-use proxies, supplemented by inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) and multiple imputation.

In the primary fully adjusted model, current statin use was not associated with global cognitive impairment (odds ratio [OR] = 0.90, 95% confidence interval: 0.48-1.67, p = 0.736). Results remained consistent across psychotropic-adjusted (OR = 0.91), IPTW (OR = 1.03), and multiply imputed models (OR = 0.86). Domain-specific analyses showed statin use was associated with lower odds of DSST impairment (OR = 0.51, p = 0.009), with no clear trend across statin intensity or duration categories.

Current statin use was not significantly associated with global cognitive impairment in older adults. Although cross-sectional observational neutrality precludes inferring long-term safety, indicated statin therapy should not be routinely withheld over cognitive concerns, with prescribing remaining firmly guided by established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk guidelines.