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Common Drugs May Create Dementia-Like Symptoms

Wed, 09/06/2000 - 12:00am — Karen Stevenson
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Some of the most common prescription and over-the-counter medicines can produce side-effects with symptoms similar to those of dementia, glaucoma, and other diseases of old age, according to Dr. Jacobo Mintzer of the Medical University of South Carolina in the September Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Some of the side-effects he noted were dementia-like symptoms of confusion, memory loss, and disorientation, and glaucoma-like blurred vision, dry mouth, constipation, urinary problems, dizziness, likelihood of falling, anxiety, rapid shallow breathing, and irregular or rapid heartbeat.

He said that illnesses like angina, diabetes, glaucoma, and dementia appear to be worsened by drugs with "anticholinergic activity". This includes many of the prescription drugs used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, depression, allergies, migraine, and irritable bowel syndrome, as well as some pain relieving drugs. Non-prescription drugs of this type are also becoming increasingly available, including cold and flu medicines, indigestion tablets, sleeping pills and anti-diarrhoea treatments. The risk of side-effects from a dose of one of these might be very small, but many elderly patients take several kinds of medications at once, increasing the likelihood of "anticholinergic load".

Dr. Mintzer warns that elderly patients in nursing homes are most at risk, since some reports suggest that 60% of nursing home residents will have received drugs from the anticholinergic group in the past year, compared with only 23% of elderly people in the community. Doctors may assume that any side-effects are an inevitable part of the ageing process rather than something which could be avoided by altering existing medication regimes. The elderly are also more likely to be at risk from anticholinergic load because their metabolism is often less efficient, allowing drugs to stay longer in their system.

Some of the most common prescription and over-the-counter medicines can produce side-effects with symptoms similar to those of dementia, glaucoma, and other diseases of old age, according to Dr. Jacobo Mintzer of the Medical University of South Carolina in the September Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. Some of the side-effects he noted were dementia-like symptoms of confusion, memory loss, and disorientation, and glaucoma-like blurred vision, dry mouth, constipation, urinary problems, dizziness, likelihood of falling, anxiety, rapid shallow breathing, and irregular or rapid heartbeat.

He said that illnesses like angina, diabetes, glaucoma, and dementia appear to be worsened by drugs with "anticholinergic activity". This includes many of the prescription drugs used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, depression, allergies, migraine, and irritable bowel syndrome, as well as some pain relieving drugs. Non-prescription drugs of this type are also becoming increasingly available, including cold and flu medicines, indigestion tablets, sleeping pills and anti-diarrhoea treatments. The risk of side-effects from a dose of one of these might be very small, but many elderly patients take several kinds of medications at once, increasing the likelihood of "anticholinergic load".

Dr. Mintzer warns that elderly patients in nursing homes are most at risk, since some reports suggest that 60% of nursing home residents will have received drugs from the anticholinergic group in the past year, compared with only 23% of elderly people in the community. Doctors may assume that any side-effects are an inevitable part of the ageing process rather than something which could be avoided by altering existing medication regimes. The elderly are also more likely to be at risk from anticholinergic load because their metabolism is often less efficient, allowing drugs to stay longer in their system.