People taking antidepressants after the age of 50 are ‘THREE TIMES more likely to get dementia because they may cause nerve damage’
- Experts found the rate of dementia was 3.4 times higher in antidepressant users
- They suggested the impact of the pills on a patient’s brain may be to blame
- But a researcher said depression may be an early sign of dementia brain damage
People taking antidepressants in middle or old age could have triple the risk of developing dementia, a study has found.
Antidepressants may cause damage to or death of nerve cells in the brain, researchers suggested as part of a study of more than 71,000 people.
Rates of dementia were found to be 3.4 times higher among people who took the depression drugs after the age of 50.
The findings should encourage people and doctors to weigh up the risks and benefits of antidepressant treatment, the researchers said.
But one expert warned scientists are increasingly turning to believe depression may actually be an early symptom of dementia and a consequence of years of changes in the brain, meaning treatment should not be avoided.
Researchers suggested antidepressant drugs may cause nerve damage or be toxic to healthy cells in the brain, but one expert told MailOnline scientists are increasingly believing depression could be an early sign of dementia (stock image)
Researchers from Israel, Sweden and New York studied a group of 71,515 real patients in Israel over the course of 10 years between 2002 and 2012.
All people in the study were over the age of 60 by 2012 and had not been diagnosed with dementia in 2002.
They were split into groups of those who had taken antidepressants during the decade (3,688 people) and those who hadn’t (67,827).
In the antidepressant-taking group 11 per cent of people developed dementia before the end of the study – a total of 407 people.
While in the group which didn’t take the pills, that rate was just 2.6 per cent (1,769 people).
When the results were adjusted to make them fair, the dementia risk of people in the antidepressant group was 3.4 times higher.
The overall rate of dementia is around five to six per cent, meaning people have a one in 20 chance of getting it – but some groups are at higher risk than others.
‘Our study results indicate that antidepressant exposure in old age may increase the risk of dementia,’ said the researchers, led by Dr Stephen Levine of the University of Haifa in Israel.
They reported they could not draw more specific results about types of drugs, though only included people who were treated with a single type of medicine.
In the paper they added: ‘Clinicians, caregivers and patients may wish to consider this potential negative consequence of antidepressant exposure with the objective of balancing the adverse events and symptomatic benefits of… antidepressant medication in old age’.
The research suggested the drugs may cause nerve damage, stop the growth of nerve cells, or be toxic to normal cells in the brain.
However, one expert said the finding should not be used to stop people from taking antidepressants, and the link may actually go the other way.
Professor Rob Howard, an expert in old age psychiatry at University College London, told MailOnline: ‘It used to be thought that depression was a risk factor for dementia but when you look at the longer term, over 20 years before someone develops dementia, that isn’t the case.
‘It seems to be only proximal to diagnosis of dementia and people with depression have probably had progressive [brain damage] for a number of years.
‘We’re increasingly seeing depression as a [sign] of Alzheimer’s-type pathology in the brain.’
Professor Howard added research must be presented carefully to avoid ‘terrifying’ people who are most in need of antidepressant treatment.
The Israel researchers published their study in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.