Medical Student, MOSC Medical College, Kolenchery, Kerala, India.

Professor, Department of Cardiology, MOSC Medical College, Kolenchery, Kerala, India

Medical Student, MOSC Medical College, Kolenchery. Kerala, India.

Medical Student, MOSC Medical College, Kolenchery. Kerala, India.

Professor, Department of Pharmacology, MOSC Medical College, Kolenchery, Kerala, India.

Biostatistician, Department of Biostatistics, St. John’s Medical College, Bangaluru, Karnataka, India.
Statins ,Atorvastatin ,Memory loss ,Cognitive impairment ,

Statins are a first-line drug treatment for hypercholesterolemia. In 2012, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning regarding the potential adverse effects of statins on cognition and changed the labelling for the entire class of statin drugs. Though a number of systematic reviews have not shown significant cognitive impairment with statin use the FDA has not withdrawn their caution about cognitive impairment. This study was planned as these controversies still exist about memory loss and cognitive impairment with statin use. Objectives: To assess memory loss using the memory loss checklist (MLC) and cognitive impairment using the digit symbol substitution test (DSST) in patients taking statins compared to age and gender-matched non-statin-users attending the cardiology outpatient department of a rural tertiary care centre. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 45 consenting patients who were receiving statins for hyperlipidemia and 45 controls not receiving statins were enrolled from the out-patient service of the cardiology department. Statin-users and non-users were assessed for memory loss using the Memory Loss Checklist (MLC) and for mild cognitive impairment using the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST). The median scores on the MLC and DSST of the statin-users group and non-statin-users group were compared using the Mann Whitney U test. Results: The median scores in the statin-users group were significantly higher in the MLC compared to the non-statin-users (p=.006). The median DSST score was higher for the non–statin-users (median 18, inter quartile range 12-26) compared to the statin-users (median 15, interquartile range 8-18), however this was not statistically significant (p = 0.074). Conclusion: There was significant short term memory loss in the statin-users compared to the non-statin users. The digit symbol substitution test for mild cognitive impairment was inconclusive. This may be because of the small number of patients tested

11 , 1 , 2021