Researchers from the University of Washington revealed through a new study that certain common drugs including those that can be purchased over the counter can increase elderly people's chances of suffering from dementia, ABC News reported.
Although the drugs were not named, the medications featured in the study are those that are anticholinergic or those that suppress the acetylcholine neurotransmitter in the nervous system.
For the study, the researchers reviewed seven years worth of medical records of 3,434 individuals. The subjects, who were 65 years old and above, showed no signs of dementia during the beginning of the study.
The researchers also analyzed the participants' pharmacy records to see if they took anticholinergic drugs. They discovered that after seven years, 797 subjects developed dementia, BBC reported.
The researchers noted that most of those who were affected by brain disease took anticholinergic drugs daily for at least three years. These include antidepressants, antihistamines for allergies and hay-fever and antimuscarinic drugs that are used to treat urinary problems.
Although most of the drugs used in the study are prescription medications, researchers noted that a fifth of them can be acquired over the counter.
To prevent the risk of developing dementia caused by the drugs, the researchers strongly advises medical practitioners and pharmacists to recommend alternative treatments instead of those that produce an anticholinergic effect.
Despite the findings of the study, doctors who were not part of the research team noted that the results are not definitive and additional investigations must be conducted to confirm the correlation between anticholinergic drugs and dementia.
"There have been concerns that regular use by older people of certain medications with anticholinergic effects, such as sleep aids and hay-fever treatments, can increase the risk of dementia in certain circumstances, which this study supports," Dr. Doug Brown of U.K. Alzheimer's Society told BBC. "However, it is still unclear whether this is the case and if so, whether the effects seen are a result of long-term use or several episodes of short-term use."
