Statins & Policosanol: Two studies have now documented that patients with high cholesterol being treated with the popular statin family of cholesterol lowering medications suffer from less depression.  This effect was not found with fibrates or niacin, two other types of cholesterol lowering medicines.  There is no research with the very promising and inexpensive cholesterol lowering medicine policosanol, which is available over the counter for at little at $6 per month.  Statins often cost over $100 per month.  If policosanol were used in the U.S. instead of statins, it could save Americans directly or indirectly over roughly $10 billion per year!  Virtually all policosanol research has been done in Cuba.  Hopefully, someone will research the depression issue.

There is some evidence that statins might help with Alzheimer's Disease and with osteoporosis.  No one knows if statins help people with cholesterol levels in the healthy range.

While there are some smaller studies that have reported that suicides may be more common among individuals with low cholesterol and among people taking the popular cholesterol lowering medications called the statins, larger studies have found no harmful effects from low cholesterol and even benefit in lowering depression for individuals with high cholesterol and hyperlipidemia who are treated with statin medications.  Whether this new finding will hold up under continuing research is unknown.  Also, the statins are an expensive family of medicine averaging around $100/month.  It would be interesting to know if cholesterol-lowering policosanol, a $10 per month over-the-counter medication made from the sugar cane plant, has the same beneficial effects, since policosanol does just as well at lowering bad LDL cholesterol and a better job at raising HDL good cholesterol.

Statins May Protect Against Suicide: In a nested case-control analysis comprised 458 newly diagnosed cases of depression with 1830 controls, and 105 cases of suicidal behavior with 420 controls, the adjusted odds ratio of depression was 0.4 for current statin use, compared with hyperlipidemic nonuse. The adjusted odds ratios for other exposures were all around 1.0. None of the adjusted odds ratios for suicidal behavior were significantly different from unity. Lipid-lowering drugs and the risk of depression and suicidal behavior. Yang CC, Jick SS, Jick H. Arch Intern Med. 2003 Sep 8;163(16):1926-32, Taipei with UK data. Ed: That's an impressive 60% reduction in depression.

Statins Decreased Risk of Depression & Anxiety: 140 cardiology patients who were continuously prescribed statins and 231 never prescribed a cholesterol-lowering drug. Another 219 subjects used the drugs intermittently. In 4-7 year follow-up with baseline and annual psychological testing, there were 30-40% reductions in the risk for anxiety, depression and hostility. Continuous statin use was associated with a significant reduction in odds ratios for abnormal depression scores compared with never users (0.63), abnormal anxiety scores (OR 0.69), and abnormal hostility scores (OR 0.77). Neither baseline serum cholesterol levels nor changes in cholesterol levels affected psychometric scores. Risk decline with each additional year of statin usage. The effect was independent of cholesterol lowering and lipophilic better than hydrophilic being able to cross blood brain barrier. Long-term statin use and psychological well-being. Young-Xu Y, Chan KA, Liao JK, Ravid S, Blatt CM. Harvard. J Am Coll Cardiol. 2003 Aug 20;42(4):690-7

Atherosclerosis Increased in Late Life Depression: 4019 individuals over age 59 were checked for extracoronary atherosclerosis, including common carotid intima-media thickness, carotid artery plaques, aortic atherosclerosis, and ankle brachial blood pressures with an overall measurement of extracoronary atherosclerosis for 3747. Coronary calcification measurement was obtained on 1986. More severe extracoronary atherosclerosis was associated with a higher prevalence of depression. An especially strong relationship was found between severe coronary and aortic calcifications and depressive disorders. Relationship Between Atherosclerosis and Late-Life Depression: The Rotterdam Study. Tiemeier H, van Dijck W, Hofman A, Witteman JC, Stijnen T, Breteler MM. Archives of General Psychiatry. 7/2004;61(4):369-376