To treat stress and anxiety, there is meditation, walking, sport, yoga … and medication. Very consumed in France, anxiolytics of the benzodiazepine class (Valium, Xanax, Lexomil …). are effective but have many side effects, addiction being one of the most problematic. Moreover, according to a recent study published by the magazine Prescribe in its September edition, too much benzodiazepine consumption in the elderly could lead to the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
The study involves 1,796 patients over the age of 66 and shows that patients with Alzheimer’s disease are those who took the most benzodiazepines in the 5 to 10 years before the first symptoms. The results of this observation converge with five other epidemiological studies.
A plausible but not proven link
Nevertheless, the authors wish to emphasize that other studies are contradictory to it, in particular insofar as they highlight an absence of link with the duration of exposure or the cumulative dose.
They note that “the results of this type of study are inherently low level of evidence and do not establish a causal relationship.” However, “a causal relationship is plausible given the short-term adverse cognitive effects of benzodiazepines.”
On the other hand, the authors wonder if anxiety, being one of the first signs of the disease, is the main cause of prescription of anxiolytics and not the other way around.
Faced with this uncertainty, Prescribe calls for vigilance concerning the molecules Zolpidem (Stilnox) and Zopiclone (Imovane), which could expose to dementias. An additional argument to avoid these drugs as much as possible, especially in the elderly, given their already proven adverse effects.
Read also :
Benzodiazepines: 60% of consumers are women
Medicines: the French addicted to anxiolytics
The risk of dementia increased by taking benzodiazepines
