Prevention of dementia by ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers - potential but not proven

Stephen Todd (1) , Bernadette Mcguinness (2) , a Peter Passmore (2)

1 Ageing Group, Centre for Public Health
2 Ageing Group, Centre for Public Health

Strategies that would reduce the burden of dementia by reducing incidence or progression of this devastating disorder would be of considerable public health interest. As no novel therapeutic agents are likely to become available to clinicians and patients in the foreseeable future, currently available medications that could achieve these goals would have many advantages - potential for immediate use; established safety profile; familiarity to clinicians; relatively low cost giving favourable cost-effectiveness breakdown. Recent observational reports have suggested that certain ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers may meet these criteria. In this Perspective, we discuss the background to this potential treatment approach for dementia, analyse the recent reports, and highlight important issues that remain to be addressed before this approach should be adopted widely.

Mots clés: Medicine

Stephen Todd, Bernadette Mcguinness, a Peter Passmore. Prevention of dementia by ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers - potential but not proven. International Journal of Clinical Practice, 2010, 64 (12), pp.1595. ⟨10.1111/j.1742-1241.2010.02490.x⟩. ⟨hal-00585813⟩