The instructions for use that accompany certain sleeping pills or antihistamines warn against the risks of drowsiness or reduced attention during their use. But, according to a study that has just been published in the medical journal Jama Internal Medicine, these leaflets should be more explicit and also alert to the higher risks of develop some form of dementia.
Beware of drugs with anticholinergic effect
Dr Shelly Gray and colleagues at the University of Washington (USA) monitored the health of 3,434 people aged 65 and over who showed no signs of dementia at the start of the study. They observed their medical records and the different prescriptions of drugs to determine how many of them had taken drugs with an anticholinergic effect (that is, that acts on certain neurotransmitters), at what dose and how often. . They then compared these prescriptions with the appearance, within ten years, of signs of dementia (such as Alzheimer’s disease, for example) in 797 of the study participants.
The most common anticholinergic-type drugs used by these latter were antidepressants, antihistamines for allergies such as hay fever, sleeping pills or drugs to treat urinary incontinence.
According to Dr. Gray’s team, people who take at least 10 mg / day of doxepin (an antidepressant), 4 mg / day of diphenhydramine (a sleeping pill), or 5 mg / day of oxybutynin (for urinary incontinence) ) for more than 3 years would be at greater risk of developing dementia in the years that follow.
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