Could Viagra be Effective for Alzheimer's Disease?

 

Believe it or not recent research has shown that the little blue pill (traditionally used for erectile dysfunction) may have another big benefit!   

Researchers at the Cleveland Clinic used gene mapping to identify commonly prescribed drugs that might be effective for treating Alzheimer’s Disease.   Out of all the drugs identified Sildenafil (Viagra) came out on top!

This was not entirely surprising since Viagra has already been identified as a potential dementia treatment by other groups.   It has been shown to significantly improve cognition and memory in preclinical models.

The researchers also found that Viagra can be effective early in the disease process:     “Notably, we found that sildenafil (Viagra) use reduced the likelihood of Alzheimer’s in individuals with coronary artery disease, hypertension, and type-2 diabetes – all of which are comorbidities significantly associated with the disease.”

The researchers looked at medical records from insurance records for over 7 Millions Americans to see if there was a relationship between sildenafil (Viagra) and Alzheimer’s disease outcomes.     The results were impressive with Viagra users 69% less likely to develop Alzheimer’s Disease than non-users after six years of follow-up.

Researchers emphasized that more study is need to prove the causal relationship through clinical trials with large numbers of people.