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Full -screen antidepressants can accelerate the cognitive deterioration in people with dementia, according to new research. Photo: Charles Dharapak/AP/TT
Some antidepressants are linked to a faster on the deterioration of the brain’s abilities in dementia. And some kinds of drugs seem to affect more than others, according to new research.
It is a researcher at the Karolinska Institutet and Sahlgrenska University Hospital who have investigated how this affects the brains in those who have dementia. Antidepressants are often used to relieve symptoms such as anxiety, depression, aggressiveness and sleep disorders in dementia.
The researchers have followed patients’ cognitive development over time and compared both medicated and non-medicated groups as well as various types of antidepressants among themselves. In total, data from 18,740 patients obtained from different registers are included.
Difference between drugs
The results, which are published in the journal BMC Medicine, indicate that patients with dementia treated with antidepressants experience an increased cognitive impairment, compared to patients who do not receive the same treatment. The results also point to differences between different drugs.
The study cannot establish if the cognitive deterioration is due to the drugs themselves or on the depressive symptoms itself, but the researchers saw a clear connection.
“Depressive symptoms can both aggravate the cognitive deterioration and impair the quality of life, so it is important to treat this. Our results can help doctors and other healthcare professionals to choose antidepressants that are better adapted for patients with dementia, ”says Sara Garcia Ptacek at the Karolinska Institute and one of the researchers behind the study in a press release.
Some groups
The researchers should go ahead and investigate whether certain patient groups, such as people with specific dementia types or biomarkers, respond better or worse to different antidepressants.
About 11 percent of Sweden’s population used some form of antidepressant drug according to the National Board of Health in 2023.
Fact differences between preparations
The results point to differences between different antidepressants.
The SSRI preparation Escitalopram was linked to the fastest cognitive deterioration, followed by SSRI preparations Citalopram and Sertralin. Mirtazapine, which has a different mechanism of action, had less negative cognitive impact than escitalopram.
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