Category: Dementia

Nearly a hundred commonly used drugs linked to increased dementia risk.

A class of drug used for many conditions, from depression to high blood pressure, are linked to an increased risk of cognitive decline and dementia.

Anticholinergic drugs are used for conditions including bladder control, colds and hay fever.

Many of the drugs can be bought over-the-counter, without prescription.

People who took at least one anticholinergic drug were 47 percent more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the researchers found.

MCI is a common precursor to Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia.

Four commonly used drugs which have strong anticholinergic effects are:

1. Doxepin (Sinequan) – an older antidepressant.
2. Chlorpheniramine (Chlor-Trimeton) – an antihistamine used to treat hayfever.
3. Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) – another antihistamine often used to treat hay fever and sometimes used to aid sleep.
4. Oxybutynin (Ditropan) – for bladder control.

Dr Lisa Delano-Wood, study co-author, said:

“This study suggests that reducing anticholinergic drug use before cognitive problems appear may be important for preventing future negative effects on memory and thinking skills, especially for people at greater risk for Alzheimer’s disease.”

The study included 688 older people, none with memory problems at the outset, who were tracked for up to 10 years.

One-third were taking at least one kind of anticholinergic drug, with the average being almost five drugs per person.

Among people at high genetic risk of Alzheimer’s, those who also took anticholinergic drugs were at four times the risk of developing MCI than those not taking the drugs.

Ms Alexandra Weigand, the study’s first author, said:

“We believe this interaction between anticholinergic drugs and Alzheimer’s risk biomarkers acts in a ‘double hit’ manner.

In the first hit, Alzheimer’s biomarkers indicate that pathology has started to accumulate in and degenerate a small region called the basal forebrain that produces the chemical acetylcholine, which promotes thinking and memory.

In the second hit, anticholinergic drugs further deplete the brain’s store of acetylcholine.

This combined effect most significantly impacts a person’s thinking and memory.”

Over half the people in the study were taking double the minimum effective dose of anticholinergic drugs, the researchers found.

Almost one-in-five were taking four times the minimum dose.

Ms Weigand said

“This points to a potential area for improvement since reducing anticholinergic drug dosages may possibly delay cognitive decline.

It’s important for older adults who take anticholinergic medications to regularly consult with their doctors and discuss medication use and dosages.”

The study was published in the journal Neurology (Weigand et al., 2020).

The drink made genetic changes to microglial cells, degrading their functioning.

Alcohol may slow down the brain’s ability to clear waste, possibly leading to Alzheimer’s.

The study on rat cells found that alcohol made genetic changes to microglial cells, degrading their functioning.

The amount of alcohol used was equivalent to a session of binge drinking in humans.

The microglia are cells in the brain that help regulate normal functioning.

When these cells stop working properly, the brain begins to degrade.

The link between alcohol and Alzheimer’s disease has been controversial.

Some studies have suggested low alcohol intake may have a protective effect.

However, recently researchers have identified a link between alcohol and brain inflammation.

Research has revealed that alcohol might hinder phagocytosis: the process by which proteins linked to Alzheimer’s are cleared from the brain.

Professor Douglas Feinstein, who led the study, said:

“Among the genes we saw altered were many involved in phagocytosis, which is the first time this has been shown.

While these studies were performed in isolated cells, our results suggest that alcohol impedes the ability of microglia to keep the brain clear of amyloid beta and may contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.”

The results showed that phagocytosis was suppressed by around 15 percent one hour after alcohol exposure.

Professor Feinstein said:

“We didn’t continue the study to see whether phagocytosis was further impaired after longer exposures to alcohol, but it appears that these changes in microglial cells could be a contributing factor to the development of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Another study has found that low doses of alcohol may help clear the brain of waste.

The previous study gave varying amounts of alcohol to mice and looked at the effect on their brains.

However, those given high levels of alcohol over a long period showed increasing levels of damaging inflammation.

The study was published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation (Kalinin et al., 2018).

A sense of purpose in life gives you this considerable advantage.

People with a sense of purpose in life have a lower risk of death and cardiovascular disease.

The conclusions come from over 136,000 people who took part in 10 different studies.

Participants in the studies were mostly from the US and Japan.

The US studies asked people:

• how useful they felt to others,
• about their sense of purpose,
• and the meaning they got out of life.

Ikigai

The Japanese studies asked people about ‘ikigai’ or whether their life was worth living.

The participants, whose average age was 67, were tracked for around 7 years.

During that time almost 20,000 died.

But, among those with a strong sense of purpose or high ‘ikigai’, the risk of death was one-fifth lower.

Despite the link between sense of purpose and health being so intuitive, scientists are not sure of the mechanism.

Sense of purpose is likely to improve health by strengthening the body against stress.

It is also likely to be linked to healthier behaviours.

Dr. Alan Rozanski, one of the study’s authors, said:

“Of note, having a strong sense of life purpose has long been postulated to be an important dimension of life, providing people with a sense of vitality motivation and resilience.

Nevertheless, the medical implications of living with a high or low sense of life purpose have only recently caught the attention of investigators.

The current findings are important because they may open up new potential interventions for helping people to promote their health and sense of well-being.”

This research on links between sense of purpose in life and longevity is getting stronger all the time:

• A 2009 study of 1,238 elderly people found that those with a sense of purpose lived longer.
• A 2010 study of 900 older adults found that those with a greater sense of purpose were much less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
• Survey data often links a sense of purpose in life with increased happiness.

Related

• Live With Purpose: 15 Strategies For A More Meaningful Life (Course)

The study was published in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine (Cohen et al., 2015).