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The threat of dementia looms with age, with many people fearing memory loss and other physical and psychological side effects of the condition. No treatment currently exists, but as dementia now affects over 55 million people, with new cases increasing at an alarming rate—the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates an increase of 10 million cases annually—much research has been geared toward finding one. Developing dementia does not have to be inevitable though, and new data may even provide some comfort to those prescribed a specific medication. Read on to learn more about the treatment that could decrease your odds of developing this debilitating disease.

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Lithium is a mood stabilizer used to treat mania in patients with bipolar disorder, and while it is not approved by the Federal Drug Administration for treatment of depression, it is often prescribed "off-label," according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Findings recently published in PLOS Medicinefound an association between lithium use and a decreased risk of developing dementia in people over the age of 50, after controlling for sociodemographic factors that could also affect diagnosis. Lithium has previously been suggested as a treatment for dementia, but there has been limited population-level research to support its potential, the study authors noted.

Ayon kayDiscover Magazine, the drug was actually the first treatment used for mental illness, having been discovered in the 1940s by John F. J. Cade. When the psychiatrist injected 10 bipolar patients with lithium, all of them improved. Now, the drug is used as the first-line treatment for bipolar disorder in the U.S., but its use is accompanied by several side effects such as headache, nausea, and changes in mood and appetite, as well as rarer complications such as lithium toxicity.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge in the U.K. obtained electronic clinical records obtained from secondary mental health services in Cambridge and Peterborough National Health Service (NHS) Foundation Trust. A total of 548 patients who had been prescribed lithium and 29,070 patients who had not been prescribed the drug were included in the analyses. All patients were over the age of 50 and had an average age of 73.9 years.

Of those taking lithium over a mean period of 4.8 years, investigators found that 9.7 percent were diagnosed with dementia during this period—6.7 percent with Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, and 2.6 percent with vascular dementia, another major form. Those who were not taking lithium, in comparison, had a higher risk of developing dementia. Over a period of 4.3 years, 11.2 percent of these patients developed the condition, 8.1 percent of whom were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and 2.6 percent of whom were diagnosed with vascular dementia.

Interestingly, results were more pronounced in patients who had been taking lithium for less than one year or more than five, when compared with patients who had exposure somewhere in the middle (between one and five years). Researchers did note the relatively small number of patients using lithium, which limits study results. In addition, 73 percent of study participants who had been exposed to lithium had mania/bipolar disorder. While their results "were in the opposite direction," the condition has previously been cited as a significant risk factor for dementia diagnosis.

Lithium could have potential in other neurological conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and stroke. But for Alzheimer's disease specifically, lithium blocks a certain protein that is directly involved with the formation of abnormalities in a patient's brain.

"There's an enzyme called glycogen synthase kinase, or GSK3, which is involved in the abnormal phosphorylation of tau protein, which makes tangles in Alzheimer's disease," Rob Howard, professor of Old Age Psychiatry at University College London, explained to Medical News Today. "And lithium is a potent inhibitor of that enzyme…This isn't the first study to have shown the link between lithium use and reduced potential risk."ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb

Ang mga pagsubok na sinisiyasat ang kapisanan na ito ay may magkahalong resulta, ayon saTuklasin ang Magazine., at ang ilan ay naniniwala na ang lithium ay maaaring maging mas kapaki-pakinabang bilang isang preventative measure kaysa sa pagpapabuti ng umiiral na kakayahan ng mga pasyente.

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Ang pananaliksik ay nagpakita ng pangako sa huli, dahil ang mga pag-aaral ay ginalugad ang potensyal ng nabawasan na panganib ng demensya sa pamamagitan lamang ng pagsisimula ng iyong araw sa isangMataas na hibla ng pagkain o pagkuha ng higit pamga biyahe sa sauna.. Habang hindi lahat ay inireseta lithium-dahil ito ay isang malubhang gamot na tahasang para sa mood disorder-at ang mga natuklasan ay hindi pangkaraniwan sa sandaling ito, ang mga resulta ay may ilang pangako para sa mas malaking larangan ng pananaliksik ng demensya.

"[O] pangkalahatang, kapag tiningnan ko ang papel, interesado ako at nasasabik tungkol dito dahil lagi kaming naghahanap ng mga bagong paraan upang maunawaan at potensyal na gamutin, mabagal, at maiwasan ang demensya,"Christopher Weber., PhD, direktor ng Global Sciences Initiatives, Alzheimer's Association, sinabi sa medikal na balita ngayon. "At ito ay isa pang paraan na hinahanap ng mga siyentipiko ... upang mabawasan ang panganib ng iyong demensya."

Ayon sa mga mananaliksik, ang mga bagong natuklasan ay nagpapahiwatig na ang lithium ay maaaring magkaroon ng potensyal na bilang isang sakit na pagbabago ng sakit para sa demensya, ngunit ang teorya ay kailangang masuri sa mga karagdagang klinikal na pagsubok.

Kaugnay:Kung hindi mo matandaan ang mga 4 na bagay na ito, maaaring ito ay isang maagang alzheimer's sign.