About 10 million French people take sleeping pills to find sleep. A consumption that would not be without risk to health, as confirmed by a recent study led by the University of California in San Francisco (United States).
Indeed, the researchers found that sleeping pills increased the risk of dementia. These findings were published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease. This study involved approximately 3,000 elderly people without dementia. Their average age was 74 years, among them 58% were white and 42% were black. During the study, 20% developed dementia. The researchers found that white participants who “often” or “almost always” took sleeping pills were 79% more likely to develop dementia than those who “never” or “rarely” used them. In black people, the consumption of sleeping pills was lower, those who took them frequently did not seem more likely to develop dementia than those who took them rarely or never.
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“The differences can be attributed to socioeconomic status. Black participants who have access to sleeping pills might be a select group with high socioeconomic status and, therefore, greater cognitive reserve, making them less susceptible to dementia. It’s also possible that some sleeping pills were associated with a higher risk of dementia than others,” said the study’s first author, Professor Yue Leng of UCSF’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Dr. Leng says patients with sleep disorders should consider other approaches before starting sleeping pillss: “The first step is to determine what kind of sleep problems patients are facing. A sleep test may be necessary if sleep apnea is a possibility.
If insomnia is diagnosed, the cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-i) is the first-line treatment. If medication must be used, melatonin might be a safer option, but we need more evidence to understand its long-term impact on health.”
