Pills for anxiety and sleep problems ‘could be linked to Alzheimer’s risk’

People who regularly take pills to address anxiety or sleep problems could be at a greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease later in life.

This is according to a new study from researchers in France and Canada, which aimed to investigate the relationship between the risk of Alzheimer's disease and benzodiazepine exposure over several years.

Results showed that past use of benzodiazepines for three months or more was associated with an increase of up to 51 percent in the risk of Alzheimer's, with those taking long-acting benzodiazepines over a greater period of time shown to be more susceptible.

This reinforces the idea of a possible direct association between the two, though it is not yet known if benzodiazepine use may simply be an early marker of a condition associated with an increased risk of dementia, rather than a cause.

The researchers concluded: "It is now crucial to encourage physicians to carefully balance the benefits and risks when initiating or renewing a treatment with benzodiazepines and related products in elderly patients."

Alzheimer's disease is the most common type of dementia, affecting almost 500,000 people in the UK. It is expected that it will become more prevalent in the coming years, due to the ageing population.