Study Links Some Antidepressants, Bipolar Medications, Parkinson’s Drugs To Dementia
New research is raising important questions as to whether certain widely-prescribed drugs may be linked to dementia.
The drugs in question are called known as anticholinergics. They block a specific neurotransmitter called acetylcholine in the central and peripheral nervous systems.
“We analyzed people who developed dementia and people who didn’t develop dementia,” explained Professor Chris Cox, a researcher at the University of East Anglia in the United Kingdom and one of the authors of the new report.
The study is the largest, most detailed one of its kind. Researchers poured over 300,000 medical records with millions of prescriptions, and then performed a sophisticated statistical analysis....