Thursday, August 16, 2018

Benzodiazepines Associated With Increased Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease

You need to worry about your risk already so hopefully your doctor isn't making it worse. 

1. A documented 33% dementia chance post-stroke from an Australian study?   May 2012.

2. Then this study came out and seems to have a range from 17-66%. December 2013.

3. A 20% chance in this research.   July 2013.


Benzodiazepines include drugs marketed under the names Valium, Ativan, Klonopin and Xanax.
But what about this research?
Benzodiazepines May Have Protective Effects Against Alzheimer Disease

Benzodiazepine-like drugs linked to increased stroke risk among Alzheimer's disease patients


Lots for your doctor to consider. 

Benzodiazepines Associated With Increased Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease

The use of benzodiazepines and related drugs is associated with a modestly increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a study published in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. The risk increase was similar with both benzodiazepines and related drugs regardless of their half-life.
For the study, Vesa Tapiainen, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland, and colleagues analysed 70,719 patients with newly diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease and 282,862 matched controls. The researchers obtained the patients’ medication use from a prescription database. To account for reverse causality, drug use within 5 years before Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis was not taken into account. However, many chronic disorders, substance abuse, socioeconomic position, and use of antidepressants and antipsychotics were considered.
The researchers found that benzodiazepine and related drug use was associated with modestly increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.06; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-1.08). A dose-response relationship was observed with both cumulative consumption and duration.
Even though the increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease was small in this study, the threshold for prescribing benzodiazepines and related drugs should be high due to their related adverse effects and events, the authors concluded.
Reference: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/acps.12909
SOURCE: University of Eastern Finland

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