UT Health San Antonio’s Sam and Ann Barshop Institute for Longevity and Aging Studies announced Nov. 20 that enrollment is open for a new clinical trial called PREVENTABLE. The study will investigate whether taking atorvastatin, a drug commonly used to lower cholesterol also called Lipitor®, can help adults age 75 and older maintain health by preventing dementia, disability and heart disease.
The study, which aims to be one of the largest ever conducted in older adults, will include more than 20,000 participants across the U.S., including 450 from San Antonio. The study will randomize participants without heart disease or dementia to receive either atorvastatin or placebo. The placebo looks like the study drug but has no medicine in it. Researchers will follow participants for up to five years and test their memory, thinking and physical abilities, and monitor them for events such as heart attacks or strokes.
Interested people may call the Barshop Institute clinical research line at (210) 450-0020.