Drugs for ADHD could treat symptoms of Alzheimer’s: Pills like Ritalin boost a part of the brain that influences memory, learning and attention, according to the study
- Significant improvements in people aged 60 to 85 years with dementia with ADHD medications
- Drugs drive the region of the brain that influences things like learning and memory
- The British team analyzed 19 studies dating back 40 years in 2,000 patients
By Health Reporter for Mailonline
Posted: 23:30, 5 July 2022 | Updated: 11:46 PM, July 5, 2022
Research suggests that common drugs given to hyperactive children could also treat Alzheimer’s.
According to a review, patients with dementia who received ADHD medications such as Ritalin saw significant improvements in their cognition and brain function.
Drugs are believed to be a good combination because they set in motion a brain region that influences things like attention, learning, and memory.
British researchers analyzed 19 studies dating back 40 years and involving nearly 2,000 patients, most of them between the ages of 65 and 80.
Participants who received noradrenergic medications saw a “small but significant” improvement in overall cognition, including memory, verbal fluency, and language.
The team also found that drugs influenced behavior and made patients feel less apathy and lack of motivation.
Researchers at Imperial College London, Cambridge University and University College London are now calling for more clinical trials of the effect of drugs on Alzheimer’s. They say there is “good evidence” that drugs could help.
Research suggests that common drugs given to hyperactive children like Ritalin could treat Alzheimer’s disease
The team looked at 19 studies published between 1980 and 2021 that looked at the effect of drugs for ADHD in people with Alzheimer’s and mild cognitive impairment.
The drugs, which were given to patients for between two weeks and a year, work by targeting norepinephrine, a chemical that is released by a network of specialized neurons in the body.
This network is critical to many cognitive processes, such as attention, learning, memory, and the suppression of inappropriate behaviors.
According to the study, the drugs had no effect on attention. But there were small improvements in general cognition and a “great positive effect” on the symptoms of apathy.
In reaction to the findings, Dr. Mark Dallas, an associate professor of cellular neuroscience at the University of Reading, said reusing drugs that already exist to treat dementia is an “exciting prospect.”
He said the review, published online in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry, is an “interesting teaser that drugs used to control other conditions could join the fight against dementia.”
Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the University of Nottingham, Dr Andrew Reid, said the study shows a “promising new avenue of research” as it suggests “a way to identify people at risk and treat them much earlier than is currently possible “.
Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, affecting more than half a million people in the UK and about 6 million in the United States.
The disease causes brain cells to die and change areas of the brain, including the noradrenergic system.
Dr Rosa Sancho, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “There is currently a shortage of drugs approved to treat apathy in Alzheimer’s, a symptom that has been linked to a lower quality of life. , a faster decline and increased stress for caregivers.
“This well-conducted meta-analysis highlights the potential of noradrenergic drugs to treat some aspects of Alzheimer’s, but the evidence from the trials reviewed here varies in quality and it is difficult to directly compare the results of each study because the methods used are inconsistent.
“We still can’t be sure what effect these drugs could have on a person’s day-to-day life, and we don’t know if the benefits they provide will outweigh the risks.”
Like any medication, ADHD medications can have side effects. The most common are loss of appetite and trouble sleeping.
Less common side effects include nervousness, irritability, moodiness, headaches, stomach ache, rapid heart rate, and high blood pressure.
What is Alzheimer’s?
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain, in which the accumulation of abnormal proteins causes nerve cells to die.
This alters the transmitters that carry messages and causes the brain to shrink.
More than 5 million people suffer from the disease in the US, where it is the sixth leading cause of death, and more than 1 million Britons have it.
WHAT’S GOING ON?
When brain cells die, the functions they provide are lost.
This includes memory, orientation, and the ability to think and reason.
The progression of the disease is slow and gradual.
On average, patients live five to seven years after diagnosis, but some may live ten to 15 years.
PRECORIOUS SYMPTOMS:
- Short-term memory loss
- Disorientation
- Behavior changes
- Mood swings
- Difficulty managing money or making a phone call
SUBSEQUENT SYMPTOMS:
- Severe memory loss, forgotten by close relatives, familiar objects or places
- Being anxious and frustrated by the inability to make sense of the world, which leads to aggressive behavior
- He eventually loses the ability to walk
- You may have trouble eating
- Most will eventually need 24-hour care
Source: Alzheimer’s Association