(Press-News.org) INDIANAPOLIS -- A class of medications previously linked to cognitive impairment in older adults also appears to negatively affect their physical functioning according to investigators from the Regenstrief Institute, the Indiana University Center for Aging Research, the University of East Anglia and several other United Kingdom institutions.
In a systemic review of more than a decade of studies on the effects of drugs with anticholinergic properties, they report that these drugs have a significant adverse effect on both cognitive and physical functioning, including the ability to feed and dress oneself. Anticholinergic medications affect the brain by blocking acetylcholine, a nervous system neurotransmitter. They are sold over the counter as sleep aids and bladder leakage preventives and prescribed for many diseases including hypertension and congestive heart failure.
The review found that these 46 studies, which followed 60,944 patients, showed only limited evidence of a connection between anticholinergics and delirium, a short-term decline in cognition. Additionally the review indicated that the studies did not demonstrate a strong tie between medications with anticholinergic properties and death. According to Regenstrief Institute investigator Noll Campbell, Pharm.D., senior author of the review paper, this may be because most studies were insufficient in length to reveal a significant link between the medications and death.
This is the first systematic review to assess the effects of medications with anticholinergic properties on physical function and delirium. The authors say it also provides an important update on cognitive function and mortality.
"Anticholinergics, both over-the-counter and prescription medications, impact the lives of older adults in ways doctors, patients and their families may not realize," said Dr. Campbell, who is also a research assistant professor in the Purdue University College of Pharmacy. "I don't see use of these medications declining. Doctors and patients are familiar with these drugs and unfortunately are far less familiar with equally effective alternatives."
For example, Dr. Campbell advised, rather than taking sleeping pills with anticholinergic properties, one could refrain from napping, limit evening exercise and remove distractions from the bedroom. Institutions like hospitals and nursing homes could work to keep older adults awake and stimulated during the day, naturally encouraging nighttime slumber.
Dr. Campbell and colleagues from the Regenstrief Institute and the IU Center for Aging Research are working to identify diagnosis- and patient-dependent alternatives to exposure to anticholinergic medications as well as methods to inform physicians of their advisability via prompts within electronic medical record systems.
"Significant ongoing concerns remain about these medicines, and this review paper for the first time in one place has highlighted the impact on function as well as memory and death," said Chris Fox, M.D., of the University of East Anglia, the review paper's first author. Dr. Fox is a psychiatrist. In 2011, he and Regenstrief and IU Center for Aging Research collaborators published the results of a study of 13,000 men and women age 65 and older in which they found a link between anticholinergic medications and death.
INFORMATION:
"Effect of Medications with Anti-cholinergic Properties on Cognitive Function, Delirium, Physical Function and Mortality: a Systematic Review" has been Advance Access published and is scheduled to appear in the September print issue of the peer-reviewed Age and Ageing, a journal of the British Geriatrics Society. Authors of the paper, in addition to Drs. Campbell and Fox, are Toby Smith, Ph.D., Wei-Yee Chan, MBBS, Nelson Bua, MBBS, Michelle Glover, MBBS, and Imogen Koopmans, MBBS, of the University of East Anglia; Ian Maidment, Ph.D., of Aston University; Phyo Kyaw Myint, M.D., of the University of Aberdeen; Chun Shing Kwok, MBBS, of Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital; and Regenstrief Institute investigator and IU Center for Aging Research scientist Malaz Boustani, M.D., MPH, of Indiana University School of Medicine.
Common drugs adversely impair older adults' physical as well as cognitive functioning
2014-07-31
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Research finds numerous unknown jets from young stars and planetary nebulae
2014-07-31
For many years astronomers have known that young 'protostars' drive supersonic jets of gas from their north and south poles. However, this is the first time that so many of them have been detected at once.
The results come from a five year survey undertaken with the UK Infra-Red Telescope and are expected to prompt significant changes in the understanding of the planetary nebulae population in the Galaxy, as well as the properties of jets ejected from young forming stars.
By examining images of excited hydrogen molecules at infrared wavelengths, scientists have been ...
The Rim Fire 1 year later: A natural experiment in fire ecology and management
2014-07-31
The enormous conflagration known as the Rim Fire was in full fury, raging swiftly from crown to crown among mature trees, when it entered the backcountry of Yosemite National Park in California's Sierra Nevada in late August 2013. But inside the park, the battle began to turn, enacting a case study in the way management decisions and drought can combine to fuel large, severe fires.
"When the Rim Fire hit the park, it eventually encountered lands where fire had been used as a management tool, rather than immediately suppressed," said Hugh Safford, a regional ecologist ...
Congressional rift over environment influences public
2014-07-31
American citizens are increasingly divided over the issue of environmental protection and seem to be taking their cue primarily from Congress, finds new research led by a Michigan State University scholar.
The gap between conservatives who oppose environmental protection and liberals who support it has risen drastically in the past 20 years, a trend seen among lawmakers, activists and – as the study indicates – the general public as well, said sociologist Aaron M. McCright.
The findings echo a June 12 Pew Research Center poll showing that, in general, Republicans and ...
Surgeons report significant migraine relief from cosmetic eyelid surgery technique
2014-07-31
New Orleans, LA – Dr. Oren Tessler, Assistant Professor of Clinical Surgery at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans School of Medicine, is part of a team of plastic and reconstructive surgeons who report a high success rate using a method to screen and select patients for a specific surgical migraine treatment technique. More than 90% of the patients who underwent this surgery to decompress the nerves that trigger migraines experienced relief and also got a bonus cosmetic eyelid surgery. The study, which confirms the benefit of surgical treatment for migraines and expands ...
Chemists demonstrate 'bricks-and-mortar' assembly of new molecular structures
2014-07-31
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Chemists at Indiana University Bloomington have described the self-assembly of large, symmetrical molecules in bricks-and-mortar fashion, a development with potential value for the field of organic electronic devices such as field-effect transistors and photovoltaic cells.
Their paper, "Anion-Induced Dimerization of 5-fold Symmetric Cyanostars in 3D Crystalline Solids and 2D Self-Assembled Crystals," has been published online by Chemical Communications, a journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry. It is the first collaboration by Amar Flood, the James ...
Women in military less likely to drink than civilian women
2014-07-31
Los Angeles, CA (August 1, 2014) While it is known that members of the U.S. military overall are more likely to use alcohol, a new study finds that female enlistees and female veterans are actually less likely to drink than their civilian counterparts. This study was published today in Armed Forces & Society, a SAGE journal published on behalf of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society.
Researchers Jay Teachman, Carter Anderson, and Lucky Tedrow studied surveys of nearly 9,000 men and women who were currently members of the U.S. military or who were military ...
U-M researchers find protein that fuels repair of treatment-resistant cancer cells
2014-07-31
ANN ARBOR—Imagine you're fighting for your life but no matter how hard you hit, your opponent won't go down.
The same can be said of highly treatment-resistant cancers, such as head and neck cancer, where during radiation and chemotherapy some cancer cells repair themselves, survive and thrive. Head and neck cancer is the sixth most common cancer in the world, but the late detection and treatment resistance result in a high mortality rate.
Now, University of Michigan researchers have found that a particular protein—TRIP13—encourages those cancer cells to repair themselves. ...
Boat noise impacts development and survival of sea hares
2014-07-31
While previous studies have shown that marine noise can affect animal movement and communication, with unknown ecological consequences, scientists from the Universities of Bristol and Exeter and the École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE) CRIOBE in France have demonstrated that boat noise stops embryonic development and increases larval mortality in sea hares.
Sea hares, (specifically the sea slug Stylocheilus striatus used in this study) usually hatch from their eggs to swim away and later feed on toxic alga but this study, conducted in a coral reef lagoon in French ...
New international tree nut council study looks at nuts, diabetes and metabolic syndrome
2014-07-31
Two new meta-analyses involving tree nuts (almonds, Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans, pine nuts, pistachios and walnuts) were recently published in the online publications, British Medical Journal Open (BMJ Open) (i) and PLOS ONE (ii). The BMJ Open article looked at the effects of tree nuts on metabolic syndrome (MetS) criteria and showed that tree nut consumption resulted in a significant decrease in triglycerides and fasting blood glucose. The PLOS ONE article focused on the effect of tree nuts on glycemic control in diabetes and showed significant ...
Vets' alcohol problems linked to stress on the home front
2014-07-31
VIDEO:
Research findings show the important role civilian life and the accompanying stress plays in cases of alcohol use disorder among returning National Guardsmen.
Click here for more information.
Regardless of traumatic events experienced during deployment, returning National Guard soldiers were more likely to develop a drinking problem if faced with civilian life setbacks, including job loss, legal problems, divorce, and serious financial and legal problems—all commonplace ...