In addition to benefiting the heart, certain combinations of drugs for cholesterol (statins) and blood pressure (ACE inhibitors and angiotensin II receptor blockers, or ARBs) may also lower a person’s risk of dementia.

A team led by USC researcher Julie Zissimopoulos tracked data from nearly 700,000 Medicare beneficiaries ages 67 and older who had used both a high blood pressure drug and a statin drug for the two previous years. None had been diagnosed with dementia, and they had never taken any Alzheimer’s medications.

The use of the statins pravastatin and rosuvastatin, combined with ACE inhibitors or ARBs for high blood pressure was associated with a reduced risk for dementia compared to other drug combinations.

Pravastatin or rosuvastatin in combination with ARBs was especially good at lowering the risk.

If these findings are replicated in future research, they might lead to specific combinations of statins and high blood pressure drugs being recommended to reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, the researchers said.