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Researchers led by Dr Valentina Mancini and Associate Professor Rob McCutcheon at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford looked at evidence from 40 studies, with findings published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
They looked at the data from people who had been prescribed ‘anticholinergic’ medications, which block a chemical in the brain called acetycholine, involved in facilitating the transmission of signals in the brain. These include a wide range of medications including those prescribed to mitigate the side effects of antipsychotic drugs.
They found higher use of these medications correlated with poorer general cognition, verbal and visual learning, memory, attention, executive functioning (e.g. decision making) and slower processing speed.
According to the analysis, tapering off these medicines was linked to improved scores in verbal learning, memory and executive functioning.
Read the full story on the Department of Psychiatry website.