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A study of more than 71,000 elderly Israelis suggests that antidepressants over the age of 60 are three times more likely to develop dementia than those who do not use it.
From 2013 to 2017, the study tracked the onset of dementia in a large sample of Israeli patients over the age of 60 and whose medical history was already known to researchers.
Among his findings: Although 2.6% of those who did not take anti-depression drugs developed dementia during this period, this figure climbed to 11%.
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The study was conducted by researchers from Haifa University, led by Professor Stephen Levine, with participants from the Swedish Karolinska Institute and Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
Experts disagreed on the meaning and meaning of the link found in the study, published May 28 in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
The results suggest that "antidepressant exposure in the elderly could increase the risk of dementia," the researchers said.
A senior couple walks down Jaffa Street in downtown Jerusalem on February 20, 2017. (Nati Shohat / Flash90)
They suggested that antidepressants could damage nerve cells, thus accelerating the onset of various neurological diseases known as dementia.
The British daily Daily Mail cited several experts who suggested that the link could be reversed – it is not depression itself or antidepressants that lead to dementia, but depression is one of the first symptoms of dementia. Madness.
"There is no evidence that antidepressants cause dementia. There is an badociation because people with dementia are more likely to be depressed and therefore more likely to take antidepressants, "said Professor Wendy Burn, president of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in the UK.
Professor Rob Howard, senior psychiatry expert at University College London, agrees.
"In the past, it was thought that depression was a risk factor for dementia, but when we look at the longer term, more than 20 years before someone develops dementia, that is not the case. It seems that the diagnosis of dementia is only very close and that people with depression probably have [brain damage] for a number of years, "he told the Daily Mail.
Only 5.2% of the 71,515 people in the study took the drugs, or 3,688 patients, of whom 407 developed dementia during the study period. Among the much larger sample of 67,827 people who did not take these medications, 1,769 developed dementia during the study period.
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