Is there a correlation between late stage dementia and high cholesterol?

Well JoAnn I think the opposite of you, perhaps if my mom had been prescribed statins she wouldn't have had the many mini infarcts that I believe lead to her vascular dementia, I do know that after she did get crestor (when she was in her 90's) she stopped having noticeable TIAs.

What the correlation is...is the Statins (Lipator as one) used to lower cholesterol. It also lowers cholesterol in the brain. The brain needs cholesterol to function. I really think Statins helped contribute to my Moms Dementia. I have seen posts recently but early on there were a couple where the poster remarked how much better their loved one seemed cognitively once off of the Statin. Statins, over time, also effect the liver. My Moms enzymes were high so she was taken off. Dr. said once they are high, should never go back on a Statin. My cholesterol is high. My Dr agreed with me about the Statins and any product saying it will help lower cholesterol. My husband lowers his by eating lowfat cheese and ham. Switching to pretzels instead of potato chips. Chicken cheese steaks instead of beef. And no baked goods made with Crisco type shortening. It solidifies in the body just like it is in the can.

Mom had a hysterectomy in her mid 40s. She was put on hormone replacement. That too has been shown to contribute to Dementia. There is a reason why our estrogen levels become non-existant during menopause. TG I had no problems going thru mine.

My own nursing experience was in cardiology and I basically did my own mini research on high cholesterol and heart attacks. I saw more heart attacks in families with a history of them starting at a certain age, and without correlation to cholesterol. I saw high cholesterol familial based as well. And I didn't see a correlation between cholesterol history and heart attacks. Of course mine was not REAL research which suggests that cholesterol is related to both heart attack and stroke, and now the suggestion is possibly to plaque-caused dementias in the brain. Long and short is that it is all under study BIG TIME, and that like statistics, you can get a study to prove or disprove anything you want. I wish there was a hard and fast answer, but point for now is that cholesterol is very little changed by diet, that the medications DO lower it, and that best medical practice is to get that cholesterol down. Dr Dean Edell had a book called Eat Drink and be Merry that suggested we should consider how many more years we wish to live, if it is in a nursing home facility. I am more or less with him. Have high cholesterol, don't take pills, and 78 and happy enough with that it that's my final number. But don't do as I do, do as I say. Get that cholesterol down if it's what your doc recommends. Remember, your Doctor is your touchstone with all questions medical.

Also some sleep medications have been known to increase a person's cholesterol. You may want to ask her Dr about that. It could be a combination of the new sleep medicine and her dementia.(especially like sjplegacy said below, if it's vascular dementia)

What kind of dementia? If you're talking VaD, absolutely. High cholesterol reduces the amount of blood to the brain and consequently less oxygen causing brain damage over time. Could that have been the cause of her dementia? Was cholesterol screening done initially when she was first diagnosed with dementia? Have her dr. follow up on the cholesterol discovery.