Erectile dysfunction drugs lower risk of dementia

Correlation and causation are awkward bedfellows but it looks as if men who take Viagra are at reduced risk of Alzheimer’s. A large-scale study of nearly 270,000 men who took Viagra and similar drugs for erectile dysfunction found they were 18 per cent less likely to contract Alzheimer’s than those who had erectile dysfunction but didn’t take the drugs. Men who took more Viagra were at more reduced risk, the researchers at UCL found. It’s not clear yet whether the drugs are directly responsible for delaying or preventing the onset of Alzheimer’s, but the lead author of the study, Dr Ruth Bauer, told Sky randomised controlled trials with female as well as male participants were now warranted. If a causative relationship is proved, the next question is whether the drugs are acting on the build-up of amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s, or easing or blocking symptoms in some other way.