Could Viagra reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s?

Everyone knows why Viagra is famous. But now, a new study suggests that the drug to cure erectile dysfunction could help reduce risk of Alzheimer’s. But what do we know about the study? And could it actually work? Let’s take a closer look: What do we know? As per Yahoo News,the study was conducted at University College London. It comprised 269,725 male participants with a median age of 59 diagnosed with erectile dysfunction. As per Time Magazine, the study was published in the journal Neurology. The study followed the participants, who did not have memory issues or thinking problems at the beginning, for around five years. More than half the respondents (55 per cent) of participants were prescribed  phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors including and Cialis. The data was then compared to men with erectile dysfunction not prescribed any drugs. As per Sky News, 1,119 of the men were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The study found that men taking erectile dysfunction drugs like Viagra were 18 per cent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease in the years afterwards.

As per The Guardian, the men taking the most erectile dysfunction drug witnessed the most benefits.

Scientists discovered a 44 per cent lower risk of Alzheimer’s in men getting between 21 and 50 prescriptions during the study. Yahoo News quoted the study’s lead author Dr Ruth Brauer as saying, “Although we’re making progress with the new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease that work to clear amyloid plaques in the brain for people with early stages of the disease, we desperately need treatments that can prevent or delay the development of Alzheimer’s disease." “The drugs seem to have a greater benefit among individuals at the greatest risk of Alzheimer’s,” Brauer told Time Magazine. “We feel these promising results should justify taking these drugs further as candidates for repurposing.” As per BBC, drugs like Viagra were originally developed to treat conditions such as high blood pressure and angina. Viagra became a worldwide hit after Welsh miners in a trial in Merthyr Tydfil spoke about the effect it had on them. As per The Guardian, PDE5 inhibitors like Viagra leave veins and arteries relaxed. This allows for increased blood flow. Studies have also shown PDE5 inhibitors increase levels of a compound called cGMP that may also help to protect brain cells. According to The Guardian, around 55 million people world wide live with dementia. In India, that number is around 8.8 million for people above the age of 60. What do experts say? Some experts have hailed the study. “This is a significant development, as repurposing existing drugs for the prevention of dementia is a promising strategy to stop dementia from developing in the first place,” Dr Ivan Koychev, a senior clinical researcher at the University of Oxford told The Guardian.

Dr Francesco Tamagnini, neurophysiologist at the University of Reading, told BBC it was a ‘great study.’

Tamagnini said more information is required. “It could be that it exerts a therapeutic effect directly affecting neurons (if the drug is able to cross the blood brain barrier) and/or by increasing blood flow, but both these hypotheses need to be tested,” he said. However, others including those involved with the project have sounded a word of caution. “We can’t say that the drugs are responsible, but this does give us food for thought on how we move into the future,”  Brauer told The Guardian. “We now need a proper clinical trial to look at the effects of these drugs on Alzheimer’s in women as well as men.” The Guardian noted that researchers also did not take into consideration the different levels of physical and sexual activity among the men. It is possible that the men that remained the  most physically and sexually active – who innately had a low risk of developing Alzheimer’s – were most frequent users of Viagra_._ Time Magazine noted that other studies on Viagra have come to different conclusions. The first discovered users of the drugs lowered Alzheimer’s risk by 69 per cent while others found no link. Dr Leah Mursaleen, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, told Sky News, “While this is an encouraging finding, it doesn’t yet confirm whether these drugs are directly responsible for reducing Alzheimer’s risk, nor whether they can slow or stop the disease. “Further research - including clinical trials - will be needed to confirm whether these drugs can indeed play a role in preventing or treating Alzheimer’s. “Such studies should also uncover whether these drugs might have effects in other groups, such as women, and men without a diagnosis of erectile function. We also need to understand how this evidence might apply to more diverse populations.” Professor Tara Spires-Jones, from the University of Edinburgh, and president of the British Neuroscience Association, told BBC, “This study does not conclusively prove that erectile dysfunction drugs reduce Alzheimer’s risk but provide good evidence that this type of drug is worth further study in future.” With inputs from agencies