Prostate drugs may help beat form of dementia that blights the lives of 100,000 Brits, study suggests

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Drugs commonly used to treat enlarged prostate symptoms might also decrease the risk of a particular type of dementia, a study suggests.

Researchers have discovered a link between common prostate medication and a lowered risk of dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).

DLB accounts for around one in 10 of all dementia cases in the UK – the equivalent of around 100,000 people - and is caused by clumps of protein in the cells of the brain.

It is the form of the condition that comedian Robin Williams suffered from before his suicide in 2014.

Now, experts believe these ‘promising’ medicines may help slow its progression – or even prevent the disease altogether.

A team from the University of Iowa analysed data on 643,000 men who were newly starting one of six drugs to treat an enlarged prostate.

Dementia with Lewy bodies is the form of the condition that comedian Robin Williams suffered from before his suicide in 2014. Here he is pictured at the 35th Annual People's Choice Awards in 2009

Three of the drugs – terazosin (Tz), doxazosin (Dz) and alfuzosin (Az) – are already known to boost energy production in brain cells.

Previous studies suggest that this ability may help slow or prevent neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s.

The other three drugs – tamsulosin and two 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors – do not enhance energy production in the brain.

Participants were followed for around three years and the team found that those who were taking the Tz, Dz or Az drugs were less likely to develop dementia with Lewy bodies.

Lead author Jacob Simmering said: ‘Diseases like dementia with Lewy bodies, or Parkinson’s disease, or Alzheimer’s disease, are debilitating and we don’t really have any good treatments that can modify the disease progression.

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Breakthrough dementia drugs 'will be useless for 80 per cent' warn top British experts

‘We can treat symptoms, but we can’t actually slow the disease.

‘We found that men who took Tz/Dz/Az drugs were less likely to develop a diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies.

‘Overall, men taking [these] medications had about a 40 per cent lower risk of developing a DLB diagnosis compared to men taking tamsulosin and about a 37 per cent reduction in risk compared to men taking 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors.’

The team said they are excited by the potential of these drugs, which have already been approved, are inexpensive and have been used safely for decades.

‘If terazosin and these similar medications can help slow this progression – if not outright preventing the disease – this would be important to preserving cognitive function and quality of life in people with dementia with Lewy bodies,’ Dr Simmering added.

Dementia with Lewy bodies is the third most common disease that causes dementia, behind Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia.

Symptoms can include visual hallucinations, trouble with sleep, problems with thinking speed and language, and slow movement.

Commenting on the findings Dr Julia Dudley, head of research strategy at Alzheimer’s Research UK said it was ‘encouraging to see large studies exploring whether drugs already licensed for other medical conditions could have a protective effect for the diseases that cause dementia’.

But they can also be a sign of dementia — the memory-robbing condition plaguing nearly 1million Brits and 7million Americans

She added: ‘As these drugs have already been shown to be safe for use in people, this could potentially speed up the process of testing in clinical trials.

‘It is important to note, however, that this study only looked at whether people developed DLB or not, and future trials would be needed to confirm a causal link between the drug and progression of the disease.

‘The study also only included male participants, despite females using the same drugs to treat urinary symptoms, highlighting the need for future research to include wider groups of people.’

The findings were published in the journal Neurology.

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