Leukotriene Receptor Antagonist Use and Dementia Risk in Patients With Asthma: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background/Aim: Recent experimental studies have reported that leukotriene receptor antagonists (LTRAs) might protect against dementia. However, few clinical studies have examined this in humans. This study assessed whether the use of LTRAs can prevent the onset of dementia in humans. Patients and Methods: A large population-based retrospective cohort study was conducted using a health insurance claims database in Japan, which included patients newly diagnosed with bronchial asthma between 2006 and 2015. Each of these patients that was LTRA user was matched with a randomly selected LTRA non-user according to age, sex, and bronchial asthma diagnostic year. Results: There were 10,471 patients in both the LTRA user and the LTRA non-user group. Using Cox proportional hazards models, a significant reduction in the risk of developing dementia was observed in the LTRA user group compared to the non-user group (adjusted hazard ratio=0.42, 95% confidence interval=0.20-0.87, p=0.019). Conclusion: Our data suggest that the use of LTRAs may prevent the onset of dementia in asthmatic patients.