Dementia is one of the most urgent public health challenges today, a progressive condition that doesn’t just affect those diagnosed—it impacts families, caregivers, and entire healthcare systems. While age and genetics are well-known risk factors, emerging research shows that everyday medications may play a bigger role in cognitive decline than we ever realized. Often, it’s not a single drug causing harm, but the combined effect of multiple prescriptions over time.
Millions of older adults rely on medications to manage chronic conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, or sleep issues. These drugs are essential—but many can quietly impair memory, slow thinking, and reduce focus. Take just a few medications together, and the risks multiply.
This is the problem of polypharmacy—commonly defined as taking five or more medications simultaneously. Polypharmacy is widespread in aging populations and one of the most underestimated threats to brain health. The danger lies not only in individual drugs but in how they interact and how prescriptions accumulate over time.
Chemical interactions can intensify side effects. A drug that makes someone slightly drowsy might trigger severe confusion when combined with another that depresses the nervous system. Small lapses in memory can escalate into disabling cognitive impairment. Sudden episodes of delirium, disorientation, or hallucinations can appear without warning.
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