Could Viagra help prevent Alzheimer’s disease?

More than 55 million people worldwide are living with some form of dementia, with as many as 10 million new cases each year, according to data published by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in March 2023. The global health authority notes that Alzheimer’s disease remains the most common form of dementia, and that “there is no cure for dementia.” But that hasn’t stopped scientists from exploring every avenue to try and curb this health, societal and economic burden.

The latest discovery in the field concerns the role that erectile dysfunction drugs, such as Viagra, could play in preventing Alzheimer’s disease.

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‘Need treatments that can prevent or delay the development of Alzheimer’s disease’

In a statement, the lead author of the research, Dr Ruth Brauer of UCL School of Pharmacy, said: “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.”

And it was drugs used to treat erectile dysfunction that the authors of this work focused on specifically.

Their research was based on data from 269 725 men with an average age of 59, who were diagnosed with erectile dysfunction. The scientists point out that the participants had no memory or thinking problems at the start of the study, that they were followed for an average of five years, and that 1 119 of them developed Alzheimer’s disease. A total of 55% of participants had a prescription for erectile dysfunction medication, and 45% did not.

What the research found

Published in the journal, Neurology, this research suggests a link between the use of erectile dysfunction medication and a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, after controlling for multiple factors such as age, smoking and alcohol consumption. Not only was the risk of developing the disease 18% lower in people taking this type of treatment than in those not taking it, but the association was even stronger in those who had been issued the greatest number of prescriptions during the course of the study.

“More research is needed to confirm these findings, learn more about the potential benefits and mechanisms of these drugs and look into the optimal dosage. A randomised, controlled trial with both male and female participants is warranted to determine whether these findings would apply to women as well,” concludes Ruth Brauer.

This is not the first time Viagra has been the subject of similar research. In the fall of 2023, researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Centre in New York reported that taking this type of drug had reduced the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by 60%, following research involving over 27 000 people.

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