Still, he said, people who already take medications known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for pain shouldn't stop using them. Latest Alzheimers News Painkillers May Not Protect Against Dementia Newer Drugs May Up Weight in Alzheimer's Patients Brain Cells Give New Clues to Alzheimer's Protein-Folding Problem May Help Spur Alzheimer's Ranks of Alzheimer's Patients Swell Want More News. The findings appear in the online issue of Neurology. Sign Up for MedicineNet Newsletters.

"If people are thinking, 'Should I take these to prevent dementia?', the answer based on our study would be no," said study Pepito B.

Previous have shown that the drugs -- which also include aspirin, which wasn't included in this study -- seem to have the power to prevent Alzheimer's disease in some cases, although they don't seem to help people who already have the disease or those who develop it quickly. Larson, executive director of the Group Health Center for Health Studies in Seattle. The relationship between the drugs and Alzheimer's disease appears to be "more complex than was earlier believed," the study authors wrote.

In their study, the Seattle team examined the medical records of more than 2,700 people aged 65 and older who.