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Painkillers
May Protect Against Alzheimer's - Study By
Patricia Reaney July 18, 2003 LONDON
- Common painkillers may lower the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease
and the longer they are taken the greater the benefit, scientists said on
Friday. They
reviewed 15 studies that examined the effect of painkillers known as
non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and found people who take
them are less likely to develop the illness which is the leading cause of
dementia in the elderly. "We
have analysed the existing data and based on our analysis we've shown that
NSAIDs may have a preventive effect," said Dr Mahyar Etminan, of the
Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, Canada. "But
before we can advocate the regular use of these drugs to prevent
Alzheimer's disease we need to wait for the results of ongoing trials
looking specifically at this issue," he added in an interview. NSAIDS,
such as ibuprofen and aspirin, are drugs that relieve pain by blocking the
action of enzymes called cyclooxygenases (COX), which control inflammatory
responses. Although they are effective against pain, the drugs can cause
ulcers and dangerous stomach bleeding. The
analysis, which is reported in The British Medical Journal, showed that
any NSAID seems to have a protective effect but aspirin has a less
significant impact. "People
who took them for two years or longer seem to have a larger benefit than
those who took them for less," Etminan explained. Scientists
believe NSAIDs may reduce the risk of Alzheimer's by relieving
inflammatory processes in the brain. Researchers
at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Mayo
Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida have also showed that some NSAIDs may work
against Alzheimer's by decreasing amounts of a protein called amyloid-beta
42 (AB42). The
protein is involved in the formation of harmful brain plaques that are
characteristic of the degenerative brain disease that afflicts millions of
people worldwide. Etminan stressed that although the results are encouraging and could provide clues for the development of new drugs for Alzheimer's disease, people should not take an NSAID to prevent the illness because more research is needed. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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