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Lithium could be used to prevent the development of dementia, according to British researchers. Scientists have found patients who take lithium, often used as a mood stabiliser for those with bipolar disorder, were less at risk of developing dementia.
Analysing more than 30,000 British patients over the age of 50, the findings show lithium could be used as a preventative treatment. Dementia is the leading cause of death in elderly Western populations, impacting one million British people.
No preventative treatments are currently available: more than 55 million people worldwide have dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease the most common form. In the study, they found 548 patients had been treated with lithium and of those 9.7 percent were diagnosed with dementia.
For those who had not received lithium, 11.2 percent were diagnosed with the same illness. Dr Shanquan Chen, from the University of Cambridge, said: “The number of people with dementia continues to grow, which puts huge pressure on healthcare systems.
“It’s been estimated that delaying the onset of dementia by just five years could reduce its prevalence and economic impact by as much as 40 percent.” Lithium is a mood stabiliser usually prescribed for conditions such as bipolar affective disorder and depression.
Dr Chen added: “Bipolar disorder and depression are considered to put people at increased risk of dementia, so we had to make sure to account for this in our analysis. We expected to find that patients with bipolar disorder were more likely to develop dementia, since that is the most common reason to be prescribed lithium, but our analysis suggested the opposite.
“It’s far too early to say for sure, but it’s possible that lithium might reduce the risk of dementia in people with bipolar disorder.” The findings were published in the journal PLoS Medicine.
