A new study in the U.S. discovered that a medicine that people with nerve-related diseases and lower back pain often take may greatly increase the risk of dementia.
In the early 1990s, the NHS gave gabapentin the go light. People have taken the drug, which is frequently sold as Neurontin, to treat epilepsy and pain that lasts a long period since then.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio found that using it for a long time can make some people’s brains worse.
Researchers looked at data from over 26,000 Americans who were administered gabapentin for chronic lower back pain between 2004 and 2024. It found that people who used more drugs were more likely to develop dementia or moderate cognitive impairment (MCI) later on.
People who had used the medicine six times or more were 29% more likely to be diagnosed with dementia within ten years.
People who consumed twelve or more substances had a 40% higher risk.
People who take six or more drugs are 85% more likely to have MCI, which can happen before dementia. This is much more risky.
It’s important to realize that persons between the ages of 18 and 34 were not at a higher risk.
People between the ages of 35 and 49 were more than four times as likely to have MCI and more than twice as likely to get dementia.
These numbers show that the drug’s effects on thinking may become clearer as people get older or take more gabapentin over time.
The researchers were careful to note that their study only shows a link between the two things, not that one causes the other.
They reported in the journal Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine, “Our findings suggest a link between gabapentin prescription and dementia or cognitive impairment within 10 years.”
They stressed how important it is to keep a check on adults who are using gabapentin, especially if they have been taking it for a long time.
Several well-known dementia researchers have spoken out against the data and told people not to jump to conclusions.
Dr. Leah Mursaleen, who is in head of clinical research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said that the study had some good things, such a large sample size, but it also had some huge problems.
“We don’t know if the medicine is directly causing the higher risk,” she said. The study found that there was only a connection between gabapentin prescriptions and mild cognitive impairment or dementia.
She also said that the researchers didn’t know how long the drugs were used or what the specific amounts were. These are two very crucial things to know regarding probable long-term impacts.
Experts are also worried that the decisions we make every day can be bad for our health.
Professor Tara Spires-Jones, who runs the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, says that persistent pain is an established risk factor for dementia and makes individuals less active.
“One very important thing that this study didn’t look at was levels of physical activity,” she said.
People who could have needed gabapentin for chronic pain were less active, which is a known risk factor for dementia.
Gabapentin acts by blocking gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a neurotransmitter that slows down nerve cells that are excessively active. Pfizer, a prominent drug firm that made one of the COVID-19 vaccines, makes the treatment.
This calming effect is good for treating seizures and nerve pain, but scientists are now questioning if changing the brain’s chemistry for a long time could have bad effects that they didn’t see coming.
From 2023 to 2024, the NHS claims that more than 800,000 people in England acquired prescriptions for gabapentin. This is a little drop from the peak of almost 926,000 the year before.
The US writes roughly 8 million prescriptions for the drug each year.
Reports to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) say that at least five individuals or their families in the UK have stated that using gabapentin is linked to getting dementia or Alzheimer’s disease later on.
But these stories can just be coincidences and not proof that they caused something.
These results are in line with other scientific work that aims to find and lower the risk factors for dementia.
Last year, The Lancet released a new study that indicated that correcting 14 major health and lifestyle issues, such as high cholesterol and vision loss, could prevent more than half of all Alzheimer’s cases.
Other known risk factors are not getting enough exercise, smoking, and having a family history of the condition.
Dementia is the number one cause of death in the UK. In 2022, it killed more than 74,000 people. Alzheimer’s disease today affects more than 982,000 people.
So, it’s important to know what cognitive decline is and how to stop it.
Experts warn that if you’re worried about taking gabapentin, you should see your doctor instead of stressing out.
If you change or stop taking a prescription without talking to a doctor beforehand, it could have dangerous repercussions, especially if you use it to control severe nerve pain or seizures.
We need to do more research to figure out if gabapentin is the cause of the elevated risk of dementia or if the results are just a symptom of other health problems that people who use gabapentin have.
