A significant study conducted by the Saint Louis University School of Medicine has examined the intricate relationship between anxiety, benzodiazepine prescriptions, and the risk of dementia in individuals aged 65 and older.
The research team discovered a clear association between an anxiety diagnosis and an elevated risk of developing dementia.
Moreover, exposure to benzodiazepines, a class of medications commonly prescribed for anxiety, was linked to a 28% increased risk of dementia.
However, a noteworthy finding emerged when benzodiazepines were prescribed for patients who were already diagnosed with anxiety. In such cases, there was no significant link between the medication and the onset of dementia.
The study, titled “Anxiety Disorders, Benzodiazepine Prescription and Incident Dementia,” was publicly disclosed on July 28 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
The Complexity of the Issue
Anxiety in older adults is associated with a range of health concerns, including cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, depression, social withdrawal, and sleep disturbances, among others.
The use of benzodiazepine prescriptions in this age group has been a subject of debate due to their connection to cognitive impairment and risks such as falls.
Dr. Jay A. Brieler, the lead author of the study, expressed concerns as a clinician regarding the potential relationship between benzodiazepine use and dementia.
Deciphering whether the disease (anxiety) or the treatment (benzodiazepine) plays a more significant role in the development of dementia posed a challenge. This study suggests that while both factors may have a role, their interaction remains a mystery.
Study Details
The study analyzed health data from 72,496 patients spanning the years 2014 to 2021. This de-identified data was sourced from the Saint Louis University-SSM Healthcare System’s Virtual Data Warehouse (VDW), which archives clinical encounters from 2008 onward and encompasses a diverse range of patients across the Midwest.
Eligible participants for the study were individuals aged 65 or older who had clinical encounters recorded both before and after the “index” date, and who had not received a dementia diagnosis in the two years leading up to that date.
The majority of the study cohort consisted of white females with a median age of 74.
Notably, in 2014, there were five million Americans aged 65 and above diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or related dementias, a number projected to double by 2060.
Implications and Future Recommendations
Senior author Jeffrey Scherrer, Ph.D., commended the study for its effective use of real-world clinical data, which eliminated the need for extensive and resource-intensive long-term patient tracking.
However, the study raises additional questions, and the authors suggest further investigations to explore whether the observed associations differ with other anxiety medications.
For those concerned about dementia, there are other noteworthy studies to consider, such as research on how walking patterns may help identify specific types of dementia and the potential benefits of common high blood pressure drugs in lowering dementia risk.
To delve deeper into the topic of dementia, recent studies on how common antibiotic drugs may treat frontotemporal dementia and the potential role of antioxidants in reducing dementia risk are also worth exploring.
This study was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
If you care about mental health, please read studies about 6 foods you can eat to improve mental health, and B vitamins could help prevent depression and anxiety.
For more information about mental health, please see recent studies about how dairy foods may influence depression risk, and results showing Omega-3 fats may help reduce depression.
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