Incontinence drugs might cause memory problems in some older people, a study suggests.
"Our message is to be careful when using these medicines," said U.S. navy neurologist Dr. Jack Tsao, who led the study. "It may be better to use diapers and be able to think clearly than the other way around."
The findings, released Thursday at a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, come from an analysis of the medication use and cognitive test scores of 870 older Catholic priests, nuns and brothers who participated in the Religious Orders Study at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center. The average age was 75.
Urinary incontinence sometimes can be resolved with non-drug treatments, Tsao said, so patients should ask about alternatives. Exercises, biofeedback and keeping to a schedule of bathroom breaks work for many.
The research began after Tsao met a 73-year-old patient. Shortly after starting an incontinence drug, she began hallucinating conversations with dead relatives and having memory problems. Her thinking improved when she stopped the drug for several months.
Tsao and his colleagues knew of similar reports. They decided to look at a large group of people to see if they could measure an effect of these and other medications that affect acetylcholine, a chemical messenger that shuttles signals through the brain and the rest of the nervous system. The drugs block some nerve impulses, such as spasms of the bladder.