Alzheimers Dement

Antiretroviral drugs linked to lower Alzheimer’s risk in large-scale study

May 27, 2025

1) Study details: This retrospective cohort study analyzed data from two major U.S. health insurance databases—the Veterans Health Administration (24 years) and MarketScan (14 years)—to assess the association between NRTI exposure and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) incidence. Researchers used propensity score-matched multivariate Cox regression and Kaplan–Meier analyses to control for confounders and compare outcomes among patients exposed to NRTIs vs. those unexposed or treated with other antiretrovirals.

2) Results: NRTI exposure was significantly associated with a reduced risk of developing AD across both datasets. This protective effect wasn’t observed with other antiretroviral classes, including non-NRTIs, protease inhibitors, and integrase strand transfer inhibitors. The findings remained robust after adjusting for comorbidities and demographic variables.

Clinical impact: These results suggest a potential repurposing opportunity for NRTIs as neuroprotective agents in AD prevention. Given their established safety profile and mechanism of inflammasome inhibition, NRTIs warrant further investigation in prospective clinical trials targeting Alzheimer’s disease.

Source:

Magagnoli J, et al. (2025, May 8). Alzheimer’s Dement. Association of nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor use with reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease risk. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40342195/