What? Viagra Can Help To Reduce Dementia & Alzheimer's risk - study

We have heard a lot about the pros and cons of the small blue pill, Viagra. The recent study shows that men who take drugs for erectile dysfunction, such as Viagra, may reduce their risk of dementia & Alzheimer's disease. In research on more than 260,000 men, those taking the drugs were 18% less likely to develop the dementia-causing condition.

Researchers at University College London used electronic medical records to track the health of the men, who were all 40 or older and had been diagnosed with erectile dysfunction between 2000 and 2017. Each man’s health and prescriptions were tracked for at least a year, although the median follow-up time was 5.1 years.

The researchers noticed a distinctive pattern. The men who were prescribed Viagra or a similar drug had an 18 percent lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, compared with men who weren’t given the medication.

“I’m excited by the findings but more excited because I feel this could lead to further, high-quality studies in a disease area that needs more work,” said Ruth Brauer, a lecturer in pharmacoepidemiology at the University College London School of Pharmacy and the principal investigator of the study.