Could the prolonged use of anti-anxiety drugs increase the risk of Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia? – time.news

2023-08-19 07:03:22

by Giancarlo Cerveri

The use of sedatives/hypnotics may be associated with a transient deterioration in cognitive functioning which is dose dependent and resolves upon discontinuation of treatment. These drugs are to be used for a short time

I am 45 years old and have been taking alprazolam tablets for a year and a half to treat generalized anxiety. I have read that taking drugs of this type for a long time can increase the risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease. really so?

Answers Giancarlo Cerveri, director of the complex operating unit of Psychiatry at the ASST of Lodi (VAI AL FORUM)

Generalized anxiety disorder is a condition that often has chronic characteristics. The use of benzodiazepines, a pharmacological class known for its anxiolytic properties, is indicated only in the acute phase. The tendency towards attenuation of the effect and the risks associated with addiction and abuse do not make it the therapy of choice for your disorder from which you suffer. It would in fact be advisable, as per international guidelines, to use selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which have good efficacy and tolerability.

Dementia risk

Benzodiazepines, drugs widely used both for their anxiolytic and hypnotic effects, have been at the center of a great debate regarding the risk of predisposing to the development of Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia. The problem was first raised in a 2012 study by Gallacher of Cardiff University. In 2014 another study published in the authoritative British Medical Journal helped to raise attention on the issue.

Mild cognitive impairment

In 2020, in a very lucid editorial published in the American Journal of Psychiatry
Salzaman retraces the results of the scientific literature of recent years on the subject, observing how many people who present with early symptoms of dementia defined as mild cognitive impairment, i.e. mild cognitive deficits (such as memory and concentration difficulties), often present understandable symptoms of anxiety who are treated with anxiolytics.

Early symptoms

This explains why in some studies people who develop dementia over time are more exposed to benzodiazepines, thus clarifying how the correlation between the two phenomena does not mean that one causes the other but that both (dementia and benzodiazepine use) are the effect the presence of the first symptoms of cognitive impairment. The author states that undoubtedly the use of sedatives/hypnotics may be associated with a transient worsening of cognitive functioning, which is dose dependent and resolves upon discontinuation of treatment. For this reason these drugs should be used at the lowest doses and for the shortest possible time.

Unproven link

We await research that can demonstrate an association between these drugs and dementia, but until they are published we must assume that there is no link between their use and the risk of Alzheimer’s. In conclusion, I would like to reassure you but at the same time I would advise you to reevaluate with your trusted doctor the most appropriate therapy for your disorder.

August 19, 2023 (change August 19, 2023 | 07:02)

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