Newswise — People over 65 shouldn’t take three or more medicines that act on their brain and nervous system, experts strongly warn, because the drugs can interact and raise the risk of everything from falls to overdoses to memory issues.
But a new study finds that 1 in 7 people with dementia who live outside nursing homes are taking at least three of these drugs.
Even if they received the drugs to calm some of dementia’s more troubling behavioral issues, the researchers say, taking them in combination could accelerate their loss of memory and thinking ability, and raise their chance of injury and death.
The new study is published in JAMA by a team led by a University of Michigan geriatric psychiatrist who has studied the issue of medication for dementia-related behaviors for years.
It’s based on data from 1.2 million people with dementia covered by Medicare and focuses…
