[P‐180]: Use of lipid lowering agents and the risk of cognitive impairment not meeting dementia criteria in relation to apolipoprotein E status

Background: The use of lipid lowering agents (LLAs) has been associated with a lower odds of dementia in observational studies, but the impact on earlier presentation of dementia in the forms of cognitive impairment in older adults, who do not meet the accepted criteria for dementia, is not clear. Objective(s): To examine the association between the use of LLAs and cognitive impairment that does not meet criteria for dementia (Cognitive Impairment, No Dementia CIND); and to assess whether the effect is modified by apolipoprotein E4 status. Methods: In a case-control study, as a secondary analysis from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging (CSHA), we examined cases (n 347, aged 65 years) with incident CIND between the first (CSHA-1) and second (CSHA-2) waves, i.e. those who had either a clinical diagnosis of No Cognitive Impairment (NCI) at baseline, or a screening Modified Mini-Mental State Examination Score of 81, and who had a clinical diagnosis of CIND at CSHA-2. Controls (n 693) consisted of older adults diagnosed with NCI during CSHA-2. Results: Use of LLAs was associated with a lower odds of new-onset CIND in those less than 80 years of age (OR 0.37; 95%CI 0.15-0.93) but not for those aged 80 years (OR 0.56; 95% CI 0.15-2.10). There was no difference in the odds ratios by apolipoprotein E4 status. The protective effect of LLA’s for CIND was chiefly seen for people with the CIND subtype Circumscribed Memory Impairment (CMI), and was restricted to those using statins. Conclusions: Lipid-lowering agent use, statins in particular, was associated with a lower odds of new onset CIND, particularly amongst those with CMI. This additional report on LLA use from the CSHA study supports earlier observations of a protective effect of LLAs, statins in particular, on dementia.