Commonly used medications could be a culprit in some older peoples' memory problems, a new report shows.
Elderly patients are often more susceptible to "drug-induced dementia and delirium," says Public Citizen, a consumer research and advocacy group, in an article posted Wednesday at worstpills.org. The report includes a list of 136 commonly prescribed drugs that are potentially dangerous to seniors' cognitive health.
"Sadly, doctors don't always recognize cognitive impairment as a side effect, so many patients needlessly suffer from this debilitating but reversible condition," says Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group.
The article says a host of factors can cause cognitive-related drug problems in the elderly, including increased sensitivity to a drug's effects, slower rates of elimination from the body and consumption of multiple drugs.
Drugs on the danger list include antihistamines, bladder control medications and sleep aids, some of which are obtained over the counter. "Sometimes all it takes is one dose," says Richard Dupee, chief of geriatrics at Tufts Medical Center in Boston.
Dupee says a group of drugs referred to as the "anticholinergics" are risky in this age group. The drugs are used for various reasons (for instance, to treat allergy symptoms), but they can interfere with a chemical called acetylcholine, which helps transmit signals between nerve cells in the brain.
"The cholinergic system, which basically drives memory, is worse in older people," he says. "These drugs can make someone with dementia more confused."
Some experts say the problem does not affect a large portion of the population with cognitive decline.
"They're right to caution the public, but I think it might be overdramatizing to say this is a common reversible cause of cognitive problems," says aging expert Gary Kennedy of Montefiore Medical Center in New York.
The experts interviewed add they would call this "drug-induced delirium," not dementia.
"Dementia is a permanent, irreversible condition," says James Burke, director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at Duke Medical Center in Durham, N.C.
Yet, Dupee says, it's a big enough concern that "there really ought to be a warning for older patients and anyone with a cognitive deficit on these drugs."
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