MEDICINES used to treat symptoms of an enlarged prostate protect against a common form of dementia, research finds.
Men taking terazosin, doxazosin and alfuzosin were 40% less likely to develop the disorder than those taking other prostate medications. drugs.
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There are currently no medicines available to stop or slow dementia with Lewy bodies, which affects around 100,000 Britons and is the leading next most common neurodegenerative form after Alzheimer’s disease.
US researcher Jacob Simmering said prostate drugs could greatly reduce the effects of the disease, adding: “These results are exciting.”
Alzheimer’s Research UK described the findings, in a analysis of the health records of 643,000 men, as “encouraging”.
Julia Dudley, head of research strategy at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said it was “encouraging to see large studies exploring whether medicines already licensed for other medical conditions could have a protective effect for the diseases that cause dementia”.
She added: “As these medicines have already been shown to be safe for use in people, this could potentially speed up the testing process in clinical trials.
“It is important to note, however, that this study only looked at whether people developed MCI or not, and future trials would be needed to confirm a causal link between the drug and disease progression.
“The study also included only male participants, despite women using the same medications to treat urinary symptoms, highlighting the need for future research to include broader groups of people.”
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