In people over 70, atorvastatin cut cardiovascular events by 30% but did not extend dementia- and disability-free survival

The edition in brief

STAREE randomised 9,971 community-dwelling Australians aged 70 or over without cardiovascular disease, diabetes or dementia to atorvastatin 40 mg or placebo. Over a median 5.9 years, major cardiovascular events including stroke fell by 30% (hazard ratio 0.70), but the composite of death, dementia or persistent disability did not differ (hazard ratio 0.94, 95% CI 0.84–1.05). A Chinese analysis of 270 patients aged 80 or over with large ischaemic strokes found endovascular treatment was associated with better 90-day function and lower mortality than medical treatment, at the cost of more intracerebral haemorrhage, with no fall-off in benefit after 85. A Washington University cohort of 197 patients on lecanemab found plasma biomarkers moved in four patterns: p-tau217 and GFAP normalised, amyloid peptides overshot, inflammatory and synaptic markers such as TREM2 moved further from normal, and neurofilament light did not change. In 61 autopsy-confirmed Parkinson's cases from the UK brain bank, Braak stage did not correlate with disability at death, disease duration or age at death.