Gray Matter Loss Tied to Polypharmacy
Published: Jul 17, 2013 | Updated: Jul 18, 2013
By Ed Susman , Contributing Writer, MedPage TodayReviewed by F. Perry Wilson, MD, MSCE; Instructor of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner
BOSTON -- Patients with memory disorders who are taking more than three medications appear to suffer significant brain gray matter loss, researchers reported here.
Researchers calculated that the total amount of medication correlated with gray matter loss (Beta = -0.08, P=0.03). However, white matter loss (Beta = -0.03,P=0.30) did not significantly differ in the patients, they reported here at the annual Alzheimer's Association International Conference.
"The more medication people were taking, the less gray matter they had," Olga Meulenbroek, PhD, of the Radboud Alzheimer's Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, said at her poster presentation.