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Scientists followed a group of Swedish women for three decades -- from middle age to old age -- and found no increase in Alzheimer’s risk among women whose cholesterol was high in their 40s, 50s, and 60s.
The finding appears to contradict several earlier studies, which did suggest a role for elevated midlife cholesterol in the development of late-life dementia.
But many of those studies only included people who survived long enough to develop Alzheimer’s disease, which could have influenced the outcomes, says researcher Michelle M. Mielke, PhD, who is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
“Because we followed people from middle age, we were able to look at the predictive value of cholesterol levels for developing dementia,” she tells WebMD.
Slideshow: When a Loved One Has Alzheimer's
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