Natural Society | December 6 2012
Benzodiazepines are some of the most widely prescribed pharmaceuticals in the world. In the U.S. alone, there are fifteen kinds of benzos, commonly prescribed for anxiety and sleeplessness. They have a calming and tranquilizing effect. But French scientists recently found they will do much more than calm you down—they could increase your risk of dementia.
The study was likely spurred because 30 percent of people over the age of 65 in France take benzodiazepines. How many Americans are on the drugs isn’t well known, though it’s thought to be a similar percentage. In older adults, the medication is most often doled out to help with insomnia. But, it’s in these elderly patients that the risk for related dementia is most prominent.
According to the research, those on the benzos increased their risk of dementia significantly. Those who didn’t take the drugs had a risk of 3.2 per 100 “person years” (describing one person at risk of development of dementia during a period of one year). In those who did take the drugs, the rate was 4.8 per 100 person years. In other words, according to the study authors, the rate of dementia was increased by 50% in those who took benzodiazepines.