A study found that Viagra, an erectile dysfunction drug, significantly lowered the risk of dementia.
A research team at the Cleveland Clinic in the United States compared the incidence of dementia among Viagra users and non-users through 6-year medical insurance benefit data of over 7 million people and found that Viagra users had a 69% lower rate of dementia than non-users.
When the research team exposed the brain cells of dementia patients made by culturing stem cells to Viagra in vitro, it was found that the growth of brain cells was promoted and the ‘abnormal tau protein’ related to dementia decreased.
However, the research team said that the association between Viagra and the risk of dementia has only been confirmed so far, and they plan to confirm the effect medically through precise clinical trials involving both men and women.
The results of this study were published in the British scientific journal ‘Nature Aging’.
YTN Ho Jun-seok (junes@ytn.co.kr)
[저작권자(c) YTN & YTN plus 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
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