A recent study shows there is a link between long-term use of anti-anxiety drugs and sleeping pills to Alzheimer’s disease, according to a recent study published in the journal Sciences et Avenir.
Before Alzheimer’s disease is diagnosed, patients often experience difficulty sleeping, anxiety and even depression, so their doctors regularly prescribe tranquilizers and sleeping pills.
Comparing users with non-users, French researchers found a strong link between the chronic use of sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication (for a period of two years to more than ten years) and the risk of Alzheimer’s. The risk for those on these medications increased from 20 to 50 percent.
Lead researcher Bernard Bégaud said that these results send a very strong warning signal in terms of public health, and that this latest study only adds to eight previous ones that have studied the association between long-term use of these drugs and Alzheimer’s disease.
Bégaud believes the medical community should limit the duration for use of these drugs, and that each each physician should be warned of the risks incurred by prescribing these drugs over the long term.
Photo credit: gameanna/FreeDigitalPhotos.net