Liu CH, Sung PS, Li YR, et al. - This nationwide cohort study reveals that telmisartan use in hypertensive type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients is linked to a decreased incidence of dementia and ischemic stroke (IS) in an East-Asian population.

• The National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan identified 2,166,944 T2DM individuals between 1997 and 2013.

• Based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria, 65,511 individuals with T2DM and hypertension were confirmed as eligible for analysis inside the study.

• The telmisartan and non-telmisartan angiotensin receptor blocker groups had 2,280 and 9,120 patients, respectively.

• The telmisartan group had a decreased chance of being diagnosed with dementia.

• With IS as a competing risk and all-cause mortality as a competing risk, they had a decreased likelihood of dementia diagnosis.

• Furthermore, during long-term follow-up, telmisartan users had a decreased incidence of any IS.

• Potential residual confounding by indication, interpretation of causal effects in an observational trial, and bias caused by the use of diagnostic and medication codes to reflect real clinical data were some of the study's weaknesses.