SEATTLE: A type of medication widely used may increase the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study suggests. Some kinds of incontinence drugs, anti-Parkinson drugs, sleeping pills and anti-depressants prescribed are classed as anticholinergics, which the research links to dementia.
The large study was published by a highly-regarded peer-reviewed journal.
The researchers tracked nearly 3,500 men and women aged 65 and over for seven years, and found that 800 had developed dementia. Those who took higher doses of the anticholinergic drugs (which block a neurotransmitter in the brain and body) were more likely to develop the illness, even years after they stopped taking them…