Category: 8. Health

Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff diseases are rare, typically fatal inherited conditions that damage the brain. Whilst no effective treatments currently exist, researchers have long theorised that replacing the affected brain cells with genetically healthy ones could slow or stop the neurodegeneration behind the symptoms. But such approaches have faced major hurdles, including poor engraftment of donor cells and the risk of a dangerous graft-versus-host reaction – where transplanted cells attack healthy tissue.

Now, in a new study published in Nature, Stanford Medicine scientists have devised a way to replace more than half of the most severely affected cells – microglia – with non-genetically matched precursor cells in mice. In mice with a form of Sandhoff disease, the method extended lifespan and significantly improved behaviour and motor skills.

“Using a specific sequence of steps, we were able to achieve nearly 100 percent incorporation of genetically healthy cells in the brains of the mice while avoiding both rejection and graft-versus-host disease,” said Dr Marius Wernig, MD, professor of pathology and senior author of the study. “This is vastly better than previous approaches. Furthermore, we were stunned at how well this therapy worked. The mice survived for the duration of the experiment, showed improved motor function and regained normal mouse behaviours like exploring open spaces. The difference between treated and control animals was dramatic.”

Understanding lysosomal storage disorders

Tay-Sachs is rare amongst the general population, however, in certain demographics, such as those of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, the disease affects around 1 in every 3,700 new-borns. Tay-Sachs and the rarer Sandhoff disease belong to a group of conditions known as lysosomal storage disorders. These diseases often begin with normal early development, but as neurons degenerate, symptoms rapidly worsen.

The disorders stem from mutations in genes responsible for enzymes needed in lysosomes – the cell’s recycling compartments. When lysosomes fail, proteins, carbohydrates and lipids build up to toxic levels.

Interestingly, microglia – brain immune cells – can have lysosomal enzyme levels up to a thousand times higher than neurons. “They are like professional cleaners,” Wernig explained. “Therefore, they have a much greater need for these degradative enzymes than other cells.” This led researchers to explore whether restoring enzyme levels in microglia could indirectly help neurons survive.

The limits of previous approaches

Past treatments tried to reboot a patient’s immune system through hematopoietic stem cell transplants, hoping healthy donor cells would eventually populate the brain. But this method required toxic preconditioning, faced difficulty getting cells into the brain and carried the risk of immune rejection or graft-versus-host disease. 

“A hematopoietic stem cell transplant is a rough procedure to go through,” said Wernig. “It’s not something you want to do to your patients unless there’s no other option.”

A targeted brain-only transplant

In the new study, researchers combined microglia-depleting drugs with targeted brain irradiation to make space for donor cells. They then injected microglia precursor cells from non-genetically matched animals directly into the brain. Two drugs were administered to block immune cells from attacking the transplants.

This approach resulted in durable engraftment, with over 85 percent of brain microglia originating from donors after eight months. While untreated mice had a median survival of 135 days, treated mice lived up to 250 days – which was the end of the study.

The transplanted microglia also appeared to transfer the missing lysosomal enzyme to neighbouring neurons. “This could be an important, unrecognised role for microglia: to supply lysosomal factors to the environment including neurons,” Wernig said.

Looking ahead

Crucially, every step in the protocol – irradiation, microglia depletion and immune suppression – is already used in other medical treatments. This suggests the technique could be adapted for human use.

“We’ve solved three big problems with this study,” Wernig said. “We achieved efficient brain-restricted transplantation without systemic toxic preconditioning, we were able to use non-genetically matched cells that don’t require genetic engineering to make the missing lysosomal enzyme, and we avoided immune rejection and graft-versus-host disease. We’re very happy.”

Beyond rare childhood disorders, the researchers believe the therapy might also have implications for more common conditions in the future. “It’s possible that these lysosomal storage diseases are just an accelerated version of much more common neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s,” Wernig said. “If so, this therapy could be very relevant not just for a small subset of children, but for many, many more people.”

If you’ve ever had a Pap smear, you know how uncomfortable a cervical cancer screening can be, especially from inside a cold, clinical doctor’s office. 

Cervical cancer is highly preventable with routine screening. To provide people with a cervix a comfortable and private screening option, women’s health company Teal Health developed the Teal Wand, the first and only at-home vaginal sample self-collection device for cervical cancer screening in the US. 

Following its FDA approval in May, the Teal Wand is now available in California. Here’s how it works and where you can get one.  

How does the Teal Wand work?

“The Teal Wand is a self-collection device in which the collected sample is mailed to a lab to test for high-risk HPV using an FDA-approved Primary HPV test,” said Kara Egan, Teal Health’s CEO and co-founder, via email. 

The Teal Wand requires a prescription, which you can get through Teal Health on getteal.com. First, you fill out a medical eligibility questionnaire, order a screening kit and schedule a 10-minute virtual visit with a Teal provider. (You can see the OBGYNs and nurse practitioners on Teal’s team here.) During the appointment, the provider will review your screening history and discuss the process. After the prescription is approved, a kit will be shipped directly to your home. 

Collecting your sample at home only takes a few minutes. Print and video instructions can help guide you, and Teal support can answer questions. When you’re done, simply package your sample and ship it to a CLIA-certified lab with the materials provided. (CLIA, or Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments, are regulations requiring any facility examining human specimens, like tissue, blood and urine, for diagnosis, prevention or treatment purposes, to be certified by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.)

After the lab processes your sample, a Teal provider reviews the results in accordance with the screening guidelines defined by the American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP). You’ll receive results in your secure Teal portal within about a week after sending your sample. You’ll be given the opportunity to virtually connect with a Teal provider to discuss any next steps. If follow-up care is needed, the Teal team will coordinate your referral. 

What does the Teal Wand test for? 

Just like in the clinician’s office, your sample is tested for 14 types of high-risk HPV (Human Papillomavirus) that present the highest risk of causing cervical cancer, Egan said.

According to the World Health Organization, 99% of cervical cancer cases are linked to HPV infections. Primary HPV tests are the most sensitive tests recommended by the American Cancer Society and the US Preventive Services Task Force for cervical cancer screening.  

According to Teal Health, the Teal Wand uses the Roche cobas Primary HPV test, which is the same test your doctor would use. Teal’s national clinical trial also concluded that “self-collection using the Teal Wand is as accurate as going into the clinic where a provider collects the sample using a speculum and tests for HPV.” The Teal Wand is simply a different way of collecting the sample. 

Who can use the Teal Wand? 

There are three types of cervical cancer tests: Primary HPV testing every five years, Pap tests every three years and co-tests that combine both an HPV test with a Pap test every five years. 

According to the ASCCP’s guidelines, Primary HPV testing through self-collection, which the Teal Wand uses, is suitable for people at average risk for cervical cancer. Teal Health follows the American Cancer Society’s guidelines, which recommend HPV testing every five years for people aged 25 to 65 who have an intact cervix.

Note that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that people between the ages of 30 and 65 get either an HPV test, a Pap test or both as a co-test. (This is different from the American Cancer Society’s recommendation, which starts at age 25 instead of 30.) If you’re considered at risk of cervical cancer, the CDC recommends that you start getting Pap tests as early as age 21. 

For those over age 65, consult your doctor. You may not need to be screened anymore if you’ve received normal or negative results from at least three Pap tests or two HPV tests in the past 10 years, or if you’ve had your cervix removed during a total hysterectomy for noncancerous conditions like fibroids.

Regardless of how, it’s important to get screened regularly, even if you’ve been vaccinated against HPV. If you’re not sure which test is right for you, your doctor can help you decide.

Who shouldn’t use the Teal Wand?

Egan said that self-collection with the Teal Wand is not currently recommended for:

• patients with a history of cancer in the reproductive system
• patients with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus)
• patients with DES (diethylstilbestrol, a synthetic form of estrogen) exposure
• patients with immunosuppression 
• patients who have had a treatment for cervical precancer, such as LEEP (Loop Electrosurgical Excision Procedure) or cold knife cone
• patients who are pregnant or within six weeks of giving birth

Does the Teal Wand replace a Pap smear?

The Teal Wand is not the same as a Pap smear (cervical cytology). Instead of in-office, clinician-collected samples with a speculum, like you’d have with a Pap smear, Primary HPV screening allows for self-collected samples. 

Teal describes a Pap smear as being less sensitive compared to HPV testing because it can only detect cell changes once they’ve happened, a potential sign that cancer is already present. That’s why Pap smears are performed more often than Primary HPV testing (every three years versus five years). On its own, a Pap also doesn’t test for HPV, which is the primary cause of almost all cervical cancers. 

“Universally, a cervical cancer screening is often called a Pap smear, but Pap smear, along with the HPV test, are both types of tests for cervical cancer screening,” Egan said. “Screening for HPV using the Teal Wand is an alternative to screening in person.”

In other words, once you screen using the Teal Wand, you don’t need to do the test again in your doctor’s office. However, if your results are abnormal and positive for HPV, you may need to get additional in-person testing, such as a colposcopy or a Pap smear, to check for cell changes. Your Teal provider will advise you accordingly, per medical guidelines, based on the HPV type detected and your screening history.  

While Teal Health aims to help people stay up-to-date on cervical cancer screening, it’s always recommended to continue yearly in-person preventive care visits.

How much does the Teal Wand cost? Can you use insurance?

With select insurance companies, the full at-home screening experience with telehealth consults is available for $99. Without insurance, it’s $249, but is eligible for HSA/FSA reimbursement. 

Teal Health is currently working with the following insurance plans in California: Cigna, Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California and United Healthcare. The company aims to expand its coverage and also provide financial assistance when needed. 

When will the Teal Wand be available outside California?

Teal Health is planning to have the Teal Wand available across the US before the end of 2026. 

What’s the goal with the Teal Wand?

According to Egan, Teal Health is on a mission to improve women’s healthcare experiences. Teal Health is also a member of the Cervical Cancer Roundtable, a collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the Biden Cancer Moonshot, a coalition of industry leaders working to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health concern in the US. 

“By creating the option for a woman to screen for cervical cancer from the comfort of home and providing telehealth follow-up, Teal can increase access to this life-saving cancer screening, get more women screened and work toward eliminating cervical cancer in the US, as it is the only cancer nearly 100% preventable with proper screening,” said Egan. 

Cats with dementia have brain changes similar to those of people with Alzheimer’s disease, offering a valuable model for studying the condition in humans, a study says.

Scientists discovered a build-up of the toxic protein amyloid-beta in the brains of cats with the condition – one of the defining features of Alzheimer’s disease.

The findings offer a clearer picture of how amyloid-beta may lead to age-related brain dysfunction and memory loss in cats, experts say.

Many older cats develop dementia, leading to behavioural changes such as increased vocalisation – or meowing – confusion and disrupted sleep – symptoms similar to those seen in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Scientists at the University of Edinburgh examined the brains of 25 cats of different ages after they had passed away, including those with signs of dementia.

Powerful microscopy images revealed a build-up of amyloid-beta within the synapses – connections between brain cells – of older cats and cats with dementia.

Synapses allow the flow of messages between brain cells and are vital to healthy brain function. Their loss strongly predicts reduced memory and thinking abilities in humans with Alzheimer’s disease.

The research team also found evidence that astrocytes and microglia – types of support cells in the brain – engulfed or ‘ate’ the affected synapses. This process, called synaptic pruning, is important during brain development but can contribute to synapse loss in dementia.

Experts say the findings will not only help to understand and manage dementia in cats but, given their similarities, could also contribute to the development of future treatments for people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Scientists studying Alzheimer’s disease in the past have relied heavily on genetically modified rodent models. Rodents do not naturally develop dementia, and studying cats with dementia has the potential to advance knowledge and help develop treatments for both cats and people, experts say.

The study, funded by Wellcome and the UK Dementia Research Institute, is published in the journal European Journal of Neuroscience: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ejn.70180 [URL will become active after embargo lifts]. The research team included scientists from the Universities of Edinburgh and California, UK Dementia Research Institute and Scottish Brain Sciences.

Dementia is a devastating disease – whether it affects humans, cats, or dogs. Our findings highlight the striking similarities between feline dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in people. This opens the door to exploring whether promising new treatments for human Alzheimer’s disease could also help our ageing pets. Because cats naturally develop these brain changes, they may also offer a more accurate model of the disease than traditional laboratory animals, ultimately benefiting both species and their caregivers.”

Dr. Robert McGeachan, study lead from the University of Edinburgh’s Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies

Professor Danièlle Gunn-Moore, Personal Chair of Feline Medicine at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, said: “Feline dementia is so distressing for the cat and for its person. It is by undertaking studies like this that we will understand how best to treat them. This will be wonderful for the cats, their owners, people with Alzheimer’s and their loved ones. Feline dementia is the perfect natural model for Alzheimer’s, everyone benefits.”

Research from the Nanoscience Center of the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, has revealed that lignin, a polyphenol, important for plant structure, has antimicrobial activity against viruses and bacteria. The results highlight that lignin, which is also an important by-product from wood industry, has potential as promising green alternative to synthetic antimicrobial agents for coating agents, packaging material, or surface disinfectants. The research is fruitful collaboration with Spinnova Oy and CH Bioforce.

The University of Jyväskylä study used a simple water-based extraction method, in which lignin was isolated in high purity from birch chips, wheat straw and oat husks. The method allows the products to maintain a high total phenol content and effectively remove carbohydrate impurities.

– We revealed that these aqueous-based lignin samples demonstrated strong antiviral efficacy against non-enveloped enteroviruses but also good activity against enveloped coronaviruses and tested bacteria, rejoices Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology Varpu Marjomäki from the University of Jyväskylä.

In addition to testing human seasonal coronavirus (HCoV-OC43) in Biosafety level 2 (BSL-2) laboratory, the research team evaluated the efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 in a BSL-3 laboratory in Jyväskylä.

– The results revealed that lignins exhibited much stronger antiviral efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 causing COVID-19, in comparison to the HCoV-OC43 causing common cold. Furthermore, the lignins had inhibitory effects on Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, explains Doctoral Researcher Jun Liu from the University of Jyväskylä.

Environmentally friendly protection against microbes

By employing a range of classical and in-house-developed biochemical and imaging techniques, the research team was able to investigate the underlying antimicrobial mechanisms.

– The results revealed that lignins inactivate enteroviruses by stabilizing and aggregating viral particles, thereby reducing their entry into the host cells and by preventing the release of the infective RNA genome in the cells, says Marjomäki.

In contrast, transmission electron microscopy and confocal microscopy revealed that lignin solutions disrupted the structural integrity of coronavirus particles, hence reducing their ability to bind to and infect host cells. Electron microscopy also revealed clear effects on bacterial cell membrane and aggregation of bacterial internal materials. Professor of Cell and Molecular Biology Lotta-Riina Sundberg says this suggests that active chemical groups penetrate the cells, ultimately leading to bacterial dysfunction.

– Research shows that lignin can be an environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic microbe-repellent substances. It can be used in coatings, packaging, and disinfectant products in a safer and more sustainable way, specifies Sundberg.

The work was done under tight collaboration between University of Jyväskylä, Spinnova Oy and CH Bioforce.

PSYCHIATRIC VIEWS ON THE DAILY NEWS

If you have been following my recent columns, you will know that my wife and I have been in Canada, focusing as we do annually on the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. The plays that we saw seemed terribly prophetic, chosen well before the emergence of our current presidential administration and reduction of psychiatric services. Multiple social psychiatric issues became readily apparent in the plays and elsewhere, seeming to require multiple columns to discuss them. This one is slated to be our last in the series.

Due to the threats from the United States for Canada to become our 51st state and the initiation of higher tariffs, we had concerns about how we would be welcomed. We debated even coming, but that concern turned out to be an erroneous fantasy. We could not have been more welcomed, and then immediately helped when we had car trouble twice. I just put up our hood, and like magic, Canadians came to our aid.

We also found out how the threats to their political independence was rallying Canadian citizens towards greater unity and a Canadian identity of working multiculturalism. Whether Canada should become capable of nuclear weapons has even emerged. As applicable to other belief systems and countries, external threats often increase internal unity.

One of the Canadian responses was the rallying cry “elbows up.” I had a vague memory that it related to their love of hockey. Elbows up referred to a way to both protect oneself and also be aggressive at times, both defensive and offensive. Hence, the phrase now reflects Canada’s political response to being threatened and absorbed by the United Stares.

It also seemed to me that the rallying cry could reflect our internal political conflict in the United States and the potential response of psychiatry. We both need to defend against the reduction of federal support of our institutions’ services, as well as to be more proactive in creating alternatives. Once again, the Canadian single payer system and lack of business control has produced a system of greater and enviable clinical satisfaction.

Come to think of it, we do the same in clinical practice when the outcomes of clinical care are threatened in any way. We are ethically required to fight back and find alternatives, even as we experience burnout at epidemic rates.

Sometimes, elbows up is done with eyes closed in fear. That can lead to even more risk. So I would add approaching our current politically-based present psychiatric challenges with eyes wide open in order to best recognize our obstacles and dangers.

Dr Moffic is an award-winning psychiatrist who specialized in the cultural and ethical aspects of psychiatry and is now in retirement and retirement as a private pro bono community psychiatrist. A prolific writer and speaker, he has done a weekday column titled “Psychiatric Views on the Daily News” and a weekly video, “Psychiatry & Society,” since the COVID-19 pandemic emerged. He was chosen to receive the 2024 Abraham Halpern Humanitarian Award from the American Association for Social Psychiatry. Previously, he received the Administrative Award in 2016 from the American Psychiatric Association, the one-time designation of being a Hero of Public Psychiatry from the Speaker of the Assembly of the APA in 2002, and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill in 1991. He presented the third Rabbi Jeffrey B. Stiffman lecture at Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis on Sunday, May 19, 2024. He is an advocate and activist for mental health issues related to climate instability, physician burnout, and xenophobia. He is now editing the final book in a 4-volume series on religions and psychiatry for Springer: Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Christianity, and now The Eastern Religions, and Spirituality. He serves on the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times.

If the findings of their study are confirmed by other research centers, the biomarker could be the first specific and quantifiable indicator for confirming long COVID. Currently, clinicians confer a diagnosis of long COVID based upon a collection of symptoms that patients develop after SARS-CoV-2 infection.

“If a patient arrives in clinic and they relate the persistence of typical signs and symptoms of long COVID, 12 weeks or more after COVID -19 infection, I give them a presumptive diagnosis, but I don’t have any blood tests or biomarkers to confirm this diagnosis,” said William Stringer, M.D., a Lundquist Institute investigator and senior author on the study.

The study results, reported in the journal Infection, detail the detection of SARS-CoV-2 protein fragments within extracellular vesicles (EVs) — tiny, naturally occurring packages that help cells share proteins, metabolites, and other materials. The researchers collected and analyzed blood samples from 14 patients over 12 weeks of aerobic exercise training (56 samples in all) in a clinical trial led by Stringer in long COVID.

The researchers found 65 distinct protein fragments from SARS-CoV-2 inside the EVs. These fragments come from the virus’s Pp1ab protein, an RNA Replicase enzyme which is key to how the virus copies itself and makes other viral particles. This protein is found uniquely in SARS-CoV-2, and not in uninfected human cells, noted Asghar Abbasi, Ph.D., a Lundquist Institute investigator and first author of the study.

Significantly, the researchers found that these viral peptides were demonstrated in each subject, but not each blood draw, in the EVs of Long COVID patients and were not detected in a separate control group of pre-pandemic EV samples.

These findings add to growing evidence that suggests that SARS-CoV-2 may persist in certain body tissues long after the initial infection. Some groups hypothesize these lingering viral reservoirs could play a role in Long COVID. How the virus reaches tissues without its usual entry points — such as the brain — remains an open question, and may be related to EV particles.

“We thought that maybe if the virus is circulating or moving in the body, we should try to see if EVs are carrying those viral fragments,” Abbasi explained.

This idea became part of an ongoing clinical trial led by Drs. Abbasi and Stringer, which was already studying EVs to see if they are linked to changes in immune function related to exercise and post-exertional malaise, a common symptom in these patients.

“While promising, the molecular signal of the viral peptides within the study samples was observed to be subtle and not consistently detected at every blood collection time point,” said Patrick Pirrotte, Ph.D., associate professor at TGen, director of the Integrated Mass Spectrometry Shared Resource at TGen and City of Hope, and co-senior author of the study. “There’s still a lot to unpack that we don’t know at this point.”

For instance, he added, the researchers don’t know if the exercise itself drives the expression of viral programs intracellularly, and then those viral programs result in proteins that are going to be shed, or if there is a permanent reservoir in those cells, and it’s just a matter of detecting it at a certain time point. Although the identified peptides originated from one of the virus’ largest proteins, the researchers did not detect other comparably large proteins indicative of active viral replication. It’s possible that the peptides contained in the EVs are just molecular “trash” leftover after the formation of new viral proteins.

“We haven’t run [our tests] on people without long COVID symptoms who are currently, or who were, infected with COVID,” said Stringer. “This raises the question: is this just continuing to take out the trash from the COVID infected cell or is this really ongoing replication someplace? I think that’s the mechanistic issue that needs to be resolved in future studies.”

The Pulmonary Education and Research Foundation (PERF) and the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine (DGSoM)-Ventura County Community Foundation (VCCF) funded this research.

A US medical journal has warned against using ChatGPT for health information after a man developed a rare condition following an interaction with the chatbot about removing table salt from his diet.

An article in the Annals of Internal Medicine reported a case in which a 60-year-old man developed bromism, also known as bromide toxicity, after consulting ChatGPT.

The article described bromism as a “well-recognised” syndrome in the early 20th century that was thought to have contributed to almost one in 10 psychiatric admissions at the time.

The patient told doctors that after reading about the negative effects of sodium chloride, or table salt, he consulted ChatGPT about eliminating chloride from his diet and started taking sodium bromide over a three-month period. This was despite reading that “chloride can be swapped with bromide, though likely for other purposes, such as cleaning”. Sodium bromide was used as a sedative in the early 20th century.

The article’s authors, from the University of Washington in Seattle, said the case highlighted “how the use of artificial intelligence can potentially contribute to the development of preventable adverse health outcomes”.

They added that because they could not access the patient’s ChatGPT conversation log, it was not possible to determine the advice the man had received.

Nonetheless, when the authors consulted ChatGPT themselves about what chloride could be replaced with, the response also included bromide, did not provide a specific health warning and did not ask why the authors were seeking such information – “as we presume a medical professional would do”, they wrote.

The authors warned that ChatGPT and other AI apps could ‘“generate scientific inaccuracies, lack the ability to critically discuss results, and ultimately fuel the spread of misinformation”.

ChatGPT’s developer, OpenAI, has been approached for comment.

The company announced an upgrade of the chatbot last week and claimed one of its biggest strengths was in health. It said ChatGPT – now powered by the GPT-5 model – would be better at answering health-related questions and would also be more proactive at “flagging potential concerns”, such as serious physical or mental illness. However, it stressed that the chatbot was not a replacement for professional help.

The journal’s article, which was published last week before the launch of GPT-5, said the patient appeared to have used an earlier version of ChatGPT.

While acknowledging that AI could be a bridge between scientists and the public, the article said the technology also carried the risk of promoting “decontextualised information” and that it was highly unlikely a medical professional would have suggested sodium bromide when a patient asked for a replacement for table salt.

As a result, the authors said, doctors would need to consider the use of AI when checking where patients obtained their information.

The authors said the bromism patient presented himself at a hospital and claimed his neighbour might be poisoning him. He also said he had multiple dietary restrictions. Despite being thirsty, he was noted as being paranoid about the water he was offered.

He tried to escape the hospital within 24 hours of being admitted and, after being sectioned, was treated for psychosis. Once the patient stabilised, he reported having several other symptoms that indicated bromism, such as facial acne, excessive thirst and insomnia.

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A new study conducted by the University of California, San Diego, unveiled that commonly prescribed anticholinergic drugs may increase the risks of mild cognitive impairment (MCI).

Cognitive impairment is an umbrella term used to describe the decline in an individual’s ability to think, learn, remember, reason and solve problems. 

MCI is a specific type of cognitive impairment characterized by a noticeable decline in a person’s thinking abilities. It is potentially considered as an early sign of dementia.

The study analyzed 688 older adults of an average age of 74 years no initial cognitive issues.

It was observed that those who took anticholinergic medications were 47% more likely to develop memory problems over a decade.

These medicines are prescribed for conditions such as high blood pressure, allergies, and depression.

The major findings of the study are:

• The participants with brain markers associated with Alzheimer’s were four times more vulnerable to cognitive decline after taking these drugs.
• Those having a genetic vulnerability to Alzheimer’s had 2.5 times higher odds of impairment.
• Medicines like blood pressure drugs (metoprolol, atenolol), allergy medications (loratadine), and antidepressants (bupropion) highly contribute to developing cognitive impairment.

These drugs typically inhibit the release of acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter critical for memory and learning.

While they are effective for their intended uses, long-term usage raises cognitive concerns.

To combat this, the study recommends exercising regularly, eating antioxidant-rich diets, and consuming certain fruits that may help to slow cognitive decline.

The study adds to growing evidence that some medications while being advantageous for one condition may inadvertently impact brain health highlighting the need for personalized medical care.