Taking antidepressants may up the risk of hip fracture in elderly
Older adults with Alzheimer’s disease who are
on antidepressants for
treating symptoms of dementia, including insomnia and anxiety, may be at twice
at risk of hip fracture, researchers report. The study found that even in
people without Alzheimer’s, the regular use of antidepressants was associated
with two times higher risk of hip fracture among controls. However, the
relative number of hip fractures was higher among persons with Alzheimer’s
disease. This risk was highest at the beginning of antidepressant use and
remained elevated even four years later, the researchers said. The increased
risk was associated with all the most frequently used antidepressant groups,
which were selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI drugs), mirtazapine and
selective noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRI drugs), said Sanna
Torvinen-Kiiskinen from the University of Eastern Finland.
Apart from being used in the treatment of depression, antidepressants
medications are also used for the treatment of chronic pain and behavioural and
psychological symptoms of dementia, including insomnia, anxiety and agitation.
If antidepressant use is necessary, the medication and its necessity should be
monitored regularly, researchers recommended. In addition, other risk factors
for falling should be carefully considered during the antidepressant treatment.
For the study, the team included 50,491 persons with and 100,982 persons
without the Alzheimer’s disease, with the mean age of 80 years from Finland.
For each person with Alzheimer’s disease, two controls without the disease were
matched by age and sex. The study was published in the International
Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
17.01.2017
Having a soft heart in a cruel world is courage not
weakness
No comments:
Post a Comment