Overactive bladder medications taken by hundreds of thousands of Britons could increase the risk of developing dementia, new research suggests.
The pills, called anticholinergics, work by reducing the activity of certain muscles to stop the bladder from contracting.
This helps stop spasms that can cause incontinence and the need to urinate frequently.
But a new study of almost 1 million Britons suggests that some types of these drugs can increase the risk of dementia by about a third.
British experts analyzed the medical records of just over 170,000 patients in England over the age of 55 with dementia and compared them with 800,000 patients without memory theft disorder.
Overall, the authors found that taking an anticholinergic was linked to an 18 percent increase in the risk of a dementia diagnosis.
However, they found that the elevated risk was slightly higher in men: 22 percent, compared to women at 16 percent.
Some specific types of medications also carried a much higher risk.
Hundreds of thousands of Brits take overactive bladder medications that could increase risk of dementia, new research suggests
Those prescribed oxybutynin hydrochloride had a 31 percent increased risk of dementia, and those taking tolterodine tartrate had a 27 percent increased risk.
Experts said their findings emphasized the need for doctors to consider alternative treatments for overactive bladder in older patients.
NHS data suggests that England’s health service dispenses hundreds of thousands of prescriptions for these drugs each month.
However, the authors, who published their research in the British medical journalfound that some types of anticholinergics were not related to an increased likelihood of dementia.
These were darifenacin, fesoterodine fumarate, flavoxate hydrochloride, propiverine hydrochloride, and trospium chloride.
The experts also analyzed a non-anticholinergic drug called mirabegron, which is also prescribed for patients with overactive bladder, but which acts through a different mechanism than anticholinergics.
While scientists found some evidence of links to dementia with this drug, they noted that the data was unclear and more research is needed.
NHS-backed OpenPrescribing data source records around 110,000 oxybutynin prescriptions per month
In concluding their report, they said doctors should “consider the potential long-term risks and consequences of available treatment options for overactive bladder in older adults.”
Doctors should “consider prescribing alternative treatments that may be associated with a lower risk of dementia,” they added.
The study was based on an analysis of health data from 170,742 Britons aged 55 and over with dementia who had taken an anticholinergic drug or mirabegron for three to 16 years before their dementia diagnosis.
Each Briton with dementia was matched with a participant from a control group of 800,000 people in terms of their exact age, sex and GP practice so a comparison could be made.
The study had several limitations, the first of which was that data was missing on the exact dose given to patients, meaning the authors were not able to fully explore whether higher doses of some medications led to a higher risk of dementia with the study. time.
Another was that the data were based on patient records that may have been unreliable or incomplete.
The study is not the first to link some anticholinergics with an increased risk of dementia, although exactly how the drugs affect the brain is not fully understood.
Previous studies have highlighted that oxybutynin, sold under the brand names Aspire, Ditropan, Kentera, may pose a particular risk as it has a smaller molecule size than other types.
Being unable to learn new tasks and having difficulty focusing on a single task may be a sign of dementia.
According to experts, this allows it to penetrate deeper into the brain and have a stronger effect on the sensitive tissues there.
The NHS-backed OpenPrescribing data source records around 110,000 prescriptions for oxybutynin per month at a cost to the taxpayer of just 15p per pill.
Dementia is a general term used to describe a variety of progressive disorders that affect memory, thinking and behavior.
There are many types of dementia, the most common being that related to Alzheimer’s disease.
Dementia is a growing problem in Britain due to an aging population; It is estimated that almost one million people live with this condition, although this is expected to increase.
The disorder is thought to cost the country around £40bn a year, a combination of healthcare costs and loss of income from people needing time off work to care for family members.
The new study comes just days after Britons were warned that another medication, this time to control acid reflux, is also linked to dementia.