According to a latest study, new blood-thinning medicines may have an unexpected association when it comes to the cognitive decline that Alzheimer’s patients go through. This Swedish research, published in the European Heart Journal, took into consideration about 7,308 people who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and also had gone through atrial fibrillation. This is a heart rhythm disorder that can increase the risk of blood clots and stroke as well. Researchers who were managing the study took data from Sweden’s national dementia registry along with prescription and health records to compare people taking different types of anticoagulants.
The participants were divided into 3 distinct groups: 3,341 people who were not taking an anticoagulant, 2,277 who were taking warfarin, and 1,690 who were taking newer non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants, commonly referred to as NOACs. Researchers were focused on tracking changes in the cognition using the Mini-Mental State Examination, or MMSE, a standard clinical tool used to assess areas such as memory, attention, orientation and language.
The results showed that people taking NOACs experienced a slower decline in their MMSE scores than both those who were not taking anticoagulants and those taking warfarin. The difference was about 0.23 MMSE points per year compared with non-users and 0.21 points per year compared with warfarin users.
That difference may sound small over a single year, but researchers said even modest differences could become more meaningful if they persist over a longer period. The study also found differences in several other health outcomes. Compared with people who were not taking anticoagulants, NOAC users had lower rates of death, ischaemic stroke or systemic embolism, and fractures. NOAC use was not associated with a statistically significant increase in major bleeding.
Warfarin was also associated with lower rates of death and ischaemic stroke or systemic embolism compared with no anticoagulant use. However, people taking warfarin had a higher rate of major bleeding.
How Might The New Blood Thinners Be Linked To Cognitive Outcomes?
Researchers suggest that better prevention of blood clots and strokes, along with improved blood flow and potentially less small-scale vascular damage in the brain, could partly explain the association. However, these mechanisms remain possible explanations rather than conclusions established by the study.
There is also another important milestone achieved. This was an observational study, which means that the researchers analysed patterns in existing health data rather than simply assigning patients to different treatments. As a result, the findings cannot prove that NOACs directly slow Alzheimer’s disease or cause the slower cognitive decline. The researchers also noted that some participants may have changed medications during the follow-up period and that certain factors influencing treatment decisions and health outcomes could not be completely accounted for.
The study therefore does not suggest that people with Alzheimer’s should start taking blood thinners for cognitive protection. Anticoagulants are prescribed primarily to reduce the risk of blood clots and stroke in conditions such as atrial fibrillation, and the choice of treatment depends on an individual’s medical circumstances.
For now, the findings add another piece to the growing research around the relationship between cardiovascular health, blood flow and cognitive decline, while leaving open the question of whether newer anticoagulants could have a direct role in protecting cognition.