According to a new study, the long-term use of sedatives, particularly sleeping pills, could be linked to the development of Alzheimer's disease. The results from this joint study conducted by French and Canadian researchers has been published in the journal BMJ, and is highlighting how popular anti-anxiety and insomnia drugs like benzodiazepines are associated with an elevated risk for Alzheimer's.
Researchers discovered that people who have been using prescription benzodiazepines for over three months were more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease by at least 51% compared it to people who have never used these drugs. Astoundingly, the risk almost doubles for people who take the same types of medication for more than six months. The team conducted a study by tracking the development of Alzheimer's disease in elderly patients, age 65 and older, that have a documented history of using this type of sedative. The risk comes from the neurologically changes that the patient experiences as a result of taking the drug for extended periods of time. These changes result to diminished cognitive brain reserves that are typically used by an elderly patient's brain as part of its natural ability to handle the earliest symptoms of Alzheimer's, and other degenerative diseases, that manifest during the later years.
Benzodiazepines are a class of medications that is being prescribed by doctors currently to manage the symptoms of clinical anxiety. Some of the more popular brands of benzodiazepines include sedatives such as Xanax, Valium, Ativan, and Klonopin. Ideally, these drugs are only meant to be taken for short periods of time, but some doctors have been known to keep their patients on this type of drug regimen for years. The main reason behind this is that withdrawal from benzodiazepines has proven to be quite difficult, and could even pose a serious threat to the patient's health, depending on how long the drug has been used.
