Common Anxiety Meds May Raise Alzheimer Risk
Benzodiazepines are commonly prescribed for the treatment of anxiety, insomnia, and related conditions. However, the authors of a new study may have identified a new potential health risk associated with benzodiazepine use.
According to new data, the use of benzodiazepine and related drugs may be tied to a modestly elevated risk for Alzheimer disease (AD), especially when used simultaneously with antidepressant or antipsychotic medications.
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Researchers involved with the study arrived at this conclusion after analyzing data on 70,719 Finnish community-dwelling individuals with a clinically verified diagnosis of AD between 2005 and 2011.
Data on benzodiazepine and related drug purchases from 1995 onward were obtained from the Prescription Register. Conditional logistic regression was used to examine the relationship between benzodiazepine use and AD, with a 5-year lag time between benzodiazepine exposure and patient outcomes.
Ultimately, the results of the study revealed a modest association between benzodiazepine and related use and the risk for AD, with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.06.
Notably, “no major differences were observed between different subcategories of [benzodiazepines and related drugs],” the researchers wrote. This included benzodiazepines, Z drugs, short‐/medium‐acting or long‐acting benzodiazepines and related drugs.
The researchers initially observed a dose-response relationship for cumulative consumption and duration of benzodiazepine use. However, the odds ratios for this relationship in the highest dose category were attenuated following adjustment for use of other psychotropic medications.
“As [the] dose-response relationship [was] abolished after adjustment for other psychotropics, it is possible that the association may partially be due to antidepressants and/or antipsychotics, or concomitant use of these medications,” the researchers concluded.
—Christina Vogt
Reference:
Tapiainen V, Taipale H, Tanskanen A, Tiihonen J, Hartikainen S, Tolpannen AM. The risk of Alzheimer's disease associated with benzodiazepines and related drugs: a nested case–control study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. 2018;138(2):91-100. https://doi.org/10.1111/acps.12909