Benzodiazepines may be linked to Alzheimer’s disease, study finds

Taking benzodiazepines is associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, particularly in long term users, a study has found.

Benzodiazepine use has long been associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease, although whether this association is causal remains unclear. To try to better understand the association, a team of researchers from France and Canada used data from the Quebec health insurance programme database (RAMQ) to track the development of Alzheimer’s in a sample of elderly residents living in Quebec, Canada, who had been prescribed benzodiazepines.1

Over a period of at least six years they identified 1796 cases of Alzheimer’s disease. They then compared these cases …