New research suggests that long-term use of benzodiazepines can cause certain parts of the brain to shrink.
The findings support current guidelines on the use of benzodiazepines, which warn against long-term use of this class of drugs.
BenzodiazepinesAlso known as a “benzodiazepine,” is a sedative prescribed to treat a number of conditions. insomnia, anxiety It is a drug used to treat seizure disorders. central nervous systemThis means the brain and spinal cord. Lighten someone’s moodIt also relieves muscle spasms and induces drowsiness.
These drugs, including Xanax, are highly addictive, and studies have shown that long-term use can pose risks, including: Memory and movement problemsFor this reason, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that benzodiazepines be prescribed at the lowest possible dose and for the minimum period needed to maintain their effectiveness. Achieving the desired clinical effect – The usual Approximately 2 to 4 weeks.
Despite these concerns, the evidence is 6% to 15% of patients Use prescribed benzodiazepines for more than 6 months.
The new study, published in the journal Nature on Monday (July 1), BMC MedicineThe researchers uncovered another reason to be cautious about long-term benzodiazepine use: It may accelerate the natural age-related decline of two areas of the brain involved in regulating memory and mood – the central nervous system. Hippocampus And that Amygdala.
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The researchers looked at the medical records of 5,443 Dutch adults who initially had no reported cognitive impairment. The scientists combed through the medical records to find out whether the subjects had taken benzodiazepines daily between 1991 and 2008, and if so, how much. On average, subjects had taken their prescribed daily dose 37 times during this time period.
The research team found that about 50% of study participants had used benzodiazepines at some point by 2008, and by 2020, about 13% of the entire group had been diagnosed with dementia. Notably, the team found that people who had taken benzodiazepines were no more likely to develop dementia than those who had never taken them, regardless of the dose or duration of use.
These findings are contradicted by two facts. Pre-analysis Practitioner Various groups The researchers’ previous analysis combined the results of numerous studies on the topic, but the studies were conducted differently, and these differences could have obscured the results, the team said.
A new study doesn’t find that benzodiazepines increase the risk of dementia, but it does uncover physical changes in the brain that are associated with the drugs. Researchers looked at brain scans taken at least once from about 4,800 of the 5,443 participants. These scans showed that the volume of various structures in the brain changed over time.
Based on these scans, the researchers concluded that benzodiazepine use was associated with a more rapid decrease in the volume of the hippocampus and amygdala — in other words, these structures shrunk faster in the benzodiazepine group compared to the drug-free group.
In addition to changes in overall brain volume, the team found that White matterIn brain tissue, Transmitting signals between neuronsParticipants who took benzodiazepines specifically for sleep disorders (called sedative-hypnotics) lost white matter volume more quickly than participants who took benzodiazepines specifically for anxiety disorders (called anti-anxiety medications).
“Our findings underscore the guidelines that benzodiazepines should not be taken for long periods of time.” Ilse von Hofe“I also think this should encourage health care professionals to consider other treatments to address the issues people are experiencing, rather than just continuing to put them on benzodiazepines,” co-senior study author John Myers, a doctoral student at Erasmus University Medical Center in the Netherlands, told Live Science.
The researchers acknowledge that the new study has some limitations. For example, they only studied “cognitively healthy” people, so it’s unclear how significant an effect benzodiazepines have on people with cognitive impairments. And participants were mostly white, which may limit how well the findings generalize to other groups.
But as it stands, the findings support the need for more research into the effects of long-term benzodiazepine use on brain health, the team said.
This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide medical advice.
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