Statin Cholesterol Lowering Drugs Prevent Epilepsy?

In the October 26 issue of Neurology (Neurology 75 (17): October 26, 2010), Drs. Etminan and colleagues from the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute published an analysis finding that individuals who had either previously or were currently taking cholesterol lowering agents of the statin variety, had a lesser risk of being hospitalized for epilepsy. The results seem to suggest that perhaps statin cholesterol lowering agents may have some sort of protective effects from epilepsy.

This is a tantalizing conclusion and one that has just begun to be addressed by other researchers. In the accompanying editorial, Drs. Susan Herman and Rohit Das suggest that much more work is needed before a recommendation of cholesterol lowering agents is made to all individuals in order to prevent seizures in epilepsy. Nevertheless, this is an important clue to future research and ideas about what can be done to prevent epilepsy in the future.