Unintended Consequences
An article in the Monterey Herald last week brought some interesting connections to mind. Apparently there is some evidence that taking a common medication for an overactive bladder may have an unintended consequence: memory problems. Gary G. Kay, an associate professor of neurology at Georgetown University, has just completed a study of Ditropan XL. The results indicate that men taking this drug suffer memory loss equivalent to aging by ten years. Sixty year olds performed like 70 year olds.The biologic connection has to do with how the drugs works on the cholinergic cells in the bladder and, unexpectedly, on cholinergic neurons in the brain. These brain cell are the main target in dementia since in the brain they are involved in memory and learning. Interestingly, the effect seems to be reversible: stop the drug and memory returns to normal.
The memory tests used in the study asked the subjects to remember named faces over a 30 minute period. Tests such as the Memory Migrations tests may have been equally appropriate.
It just makes sense to establish a baseline of memory performance with some form of memory testing. Given the unexpected results of some drugs (who would have thought a bladder medicine would affect the brain) memory testing should be a regular part of medical testing.
posted by Henry Bowles @ 11:40 PM
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