Objectives This study aimed to examine the association between statin exposure and dementia risk in individuals with hypercholesterolaemia using data from the NHIS‐HEALS database between 2002 and 2015. Methods Subjects were classified into statin exposure and statin nonexposure groups according to medication possession ratio. Dementia was defined as those with primary diagnostic dementia codes such as F00‐F03, G30, G31.1, G31.9 or G31.82. Cox proportional hazards regression models were adopted after stepwise adjustment for confounders to investigate the prospective association between statin exposure and dementia risk. Results During the follow‐up period (median follow‐up 11.7 years), 711 cases of dementia occurred, accounting for 11.5% of the total study population (statin exposure group, 8.2%; statin nonexposure group, 12.9%). Compared to the statin nonexposure group, fully adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) (95% confidence intervals [CIs]) for overall dementia in the statin exposure group were 0.63 (0.43–0.91) and 0.62 (0.50–0.78) in men and women, respectively. Compared to the statin nonexposure group, the HRs (95% CIs) for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, vascular dementia and other types of dementia in the statin exposure group were 0.54 (0.32–0.91), 2.45 (0.69–8.68) and 0.59 (0.32–1.07), respectively, in men and 0.53 (0.38–0.73), 1.29 (0.42–3.96) and 0.70 (0.51–0.96), respectively, in women. Conclusions Hypercholesterolaemic individuals exposed to statin had a lower risk of overall dementia and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia in both sexes, and a lower risk of other types of dementia in women, than subjects who were not exposed to statins.

BackgroundSystemic effects of long‐term narrowband ultraviolet B (NB‐UVB) phototherapy have not been well studied in vitiligo patients. An 11‐year nationwide population‐based retrospective cohort study was conducted using the Korean National Health Insurance claims database (2007–2017).ObjectivesTo investigate the effects of long‐term NB‐UVB phototherapy on the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events in vitiligo patients.MethodsThis study included vitiligo patients with ≥100 phototherapy sessions (phototherapy group, n = 3229) and <3 phototherapy sessions (no phototherapy group, n = 9687), in which covariables with age, sex, insurance type and comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia were matched by 1 : 3 propensity score matching. The outcomes of interest were cardiovascular (ischaemic heart disease and myocardial infarction) and cerebrovascular events (cerebrovascular infraction and haemorrhage). Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the associations between NB‐UVB phototherapy and each event.ResultsThe risk of cardiovascular or cerebrovascular events was significantly decreased in the phototherapy group compared with the no phototherapy group [hazard ratio (HR) 0.637, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.523–0.776]. Subgroup analysis revealed that the risk of cardiovascular (HR: 0.682, 95% CI: 0.495–0.940) and cerebrovascular events (HR: 0.601, 95% CI: 0.470–0.769) were significantly lower in the phototherapy group than the no phototherapy group, respectively.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that long‐term NB‐UVB phototherapy could decrease the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events in patients with vitiligo.