Allergy drugs may hurt your brain, study shows

Be careful out there.

Allergy drugs may hurt your brain, study shows

Benadryl, Demerol, Dimetapp, Dramamine, Paxil among drugs that were studied
Use of this class of drugs was associated with cognitive impairment and dementia

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article73369437.html#storylink=cpy

The research this points to;
Association Between Anticholinergic Medication Use and Cognition, Brain Metabolism, and Brain Atrophy in Cognitively Normal Older Adults
IMPORTANCE

The use of anticholinergic (AC) medication is linked to cognitive impairment

and an increased risk of dementia. To our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the

association between AC medication use and neuroimaging biomarkers of brain metabolism

and atrophy as a proxy for understanding the underlying biology of the clinical effects of AC

medications.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the association between AC medication use and cognition, glucose metabolism, and brain atrophy in cognitively normal older adults from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) and the Indiana Memory and Aging Study (IMAS).

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS

The ADNI and IMAS are longitudinal studies with cognitive, neuroimaging, and other data collected at regular intervals in clinical and academic research settings. For the participants in the ADNI, visits are repeated 3, 6, and 12 months after the baseline visit and then annually. For the participants in the IMAS, visits are repeated every 18 months after the baseline visit (402 cognitively normal older adults in the ADNI and 49 cognitively normal older adults in the IMAS were included in the present analysis).

Participants were either taking (hereafter referred to as the AC+participants [52 from the

ADNI and 8 from the IMAS]) or not taking (hereafter referred to as the AC−participants [350

from the ADNI and 41 from the IMAS]) at least 1 medication with medium or high AC activity.

Data analysis for this study was performed in November 2015.

MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES

Cognitive scores, mean fludeoxyglucose F 18 standardized uptake value ratio (participants from the ADNI only), and brain atrophy measures from structural magnetic resonance imaging were compared between AC+participants and AC−participants after adjusting for potential confounders. The total AC burden score was calculated and was related to target measures. The association of AC use and longitudinal clinical decline (mean [SD] follow-up period, 32.1 [24.7] months [range, 6-108 months]) was

examined using Cox regression.

RESULTS

The52AC+participants (mean [SD] age, 73.3 [6.6] years) from the ADNI showed

lower mean scores on Weschler Memory Scale–Revised Logical Memory Immediate Recall

(raw mean scores: 13.27 for AC+participants and 14.16 for AC−participants; P= .04) and the

Trail Making Test Part B (raw mean scores: 97.85 seconds for AC+participants and 82.61

seconds for AC−participants; P= .04) and a lower executive function composite score (raw

mean scores: 0.58 for AC+participants and 0.78 for AC−participants; P= .04) than the

350 AC−participants (mean [SD] age, 73.3 [5.8] years) from the ADNI. Reduced total cortical

volume and temporal lobe cortical thickness and greater lateral ventricle and inferior lateral

ventricle volumes were seen in the AC+participants relative to the AC−participants.

CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE

The use of AC medication was associated with increased brain atrophy and dysfunction and clinical decline. Thus, use of AC medication among older adults should likely be discouraged if alternative therapies are available.

JAMA Neurol

. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2016.080