Money Today Reporter Jeong Hye-in | 2024.02.09 14:02
UCL researchers in the UK say, “Men who take medication have an 18% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.”
Erectile dysfunction treatment ‘Viagra’ /AFPBBNews=News 1 Research results have been published showing that erectile dysfunction treatments such as Viagra and Cialis can reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. This is the result of comparing the rates of Alzheimer’s disease between those who took the drug and those who did not. According to the BBC on the 8th (local time), Dr. Ruth Brouwer’s research team at University College London (UCL) in the UK conducted a study published in the American Academy of Neurology’s journal ‘Neurology’ on the 7th, “A study targeting more than 260,000 men. “The results showed that men who take this drug (erectile dysfunction treatment) have an 18% lower risk of developing a disease that causes dementia (Alzheimer’s).”
Researchers explained that they discovered that an erectile dysfunction treatment attacks ‘beta-amyloid’ plaques that accumulate in patients’ brains, and that this has the potential to change the way Alzheimer’s disease is treated.
Phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor (PDE5I), an erectile dysfunction drug like Viagra, was originally developed to treat high blood pressure and angina, but is currently mainly used as a treatment for erectile dysfunction. This drug is known to work by acting on cell signal transmitters, which may be related to memory, and also affects brain cell activity. Studies on animals have shown that erectile dysfunction drugs have a brain-protecting effect. Dr. Brouwer’s research team looked at the prescription records of men aged 40 or older (269,725 people) diagnosed with erectile dysfunction between January 2000 and March 31, 2017, and compared them with men who did not take the medication. During a follow-up period of 5.1 years (median), 8.1 cases of Alzheimer’s disease occurred per 10,000 people in the group prescribed erectile dysfunction medication, and 9.7 cases per 10,000 people in the group that did not take the medication.
The researchers explained that men who were prescribed a large number of erectile dysfunction drugs had a lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. “This suggests that regular use of the drug may have a greater impact on the disease.” However, he added that more research is needed to prove that erectile dysfunction treatments are effective for Alzheimer’s.
/Photo = Getty Image Bank Researchers evaluated that although this study did not confirm evidence that erectile dysfunction treatment itself reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s, it was able to suggest a new research direction. “More research is needed to confirm these findings, learn more about the potential benefits and mechanisms of these drugs, and investigate optimal dosages,” Dr. Brouwer said. Professor Tara Spiers-Jones, professor at the University of Edinburgh and president of the British Association for Neuroscience, said: “This study does not conclusively prove that erectile dysfunction drugs reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s, but it is a good sign that these types of drugs are worthy of further research in the future. “We provide evidence,” he said. Dr. Francesco Tamagnini, a neurophysiologist at the University of Reading, said: “If a drug (an erectile dysfunction drug) can cross the blood-brain barrier, it could exert its therapeutic effect either by directly affecting neurons or by increasing blood flow. However, these two hypotheses are different. “Everyone needs to be tested,” he pointed out.
[저작권자 @머니투데이, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
2024-02-09 05:02:06
#Viagra #unexpected #effects.. #Dementia #incidence #rate #drops
