"Some antidepressants and bladder medicines could be linked to dementia," BBC News reports. The researchers said their results showed "robust associations between levels of anticholinergic antidepressants, antiparkinsons [drugs used to treat Parkinson's] and urologicals [drugs used to treat bladder conditions], and the risk of a diagnosis of dementia up to 20 years after exposure". Long-standing evidence has found that anticholinergics can negatively influence cognition.Jonathan Block is a freelance writer and former MedShadow content editor. Several studies have compared the chemical properties of OAB medications and how they may affect dementia risk. The drug, oxybutynin, is widely prescribed as a generic drug, but is also known under its brand name, Ditropan. He holds a BA from Tufts University and is earning an MPH with a focus on health policy from the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy.In the quest to discover the causes for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), influenza (H1N1) vaccine can be taken off the chopping block. Surgery is sometimes an option, as are prescription antimuscarinic medications like oxybutynin.To determine how often oxybutynin is prescribed to seniors, researchers examined 2006-2012 statistics from the U.S. National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey. Professor Drake said: ‘Oxybutynin is the one of the class that we should avoid when it comes to dementia and memory risk. This would mean that an additional 1 to 3 in 100 people would get dementia. The antidepressant Paxil is one of a class of medications, called anticholinergic drugs, which a new study suggests might increase the risk of dementia with long-term use. They said doctors should exercise caution in prescribing drugs with these effects, and think about possible long-term consequences, as well as short-term side effects. These drugs are newer than oxybutynin and designed to mitigate many of its issues. Researchers reviewed GP records of more than 300,000 people to look for links between dementia and drugs that belong to a group of medicines known as anticholinergic drugs.These drugs block a chemical called acetylcholine, which can affect a wide range of the body's organs. The results of the study were just presented at the European Association of Urology’s annual conference.“Doctors need to look closely at the levels of prescribing,” Daniel Pucheril, MD, of Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, who headed the research, told the Oxybutynin accounts for 27% of all OAB prescriptions in the US. However, not all anticholinergic drugs showed this effect. It’s an older drug that has a broad-spectrum effect on the central nervous system. She is a Doctor of Pharmacy candidate at the Ohio State University College of Pharmacy. The drug, oxybutynin, when taken orally, is consistently linked with cognitive impairment and dementia in the elderly. Not all drugs for bladder problems, depression or Parkinson's disease are anticholinergic, so you may not be affected at all. Drugs such as trospium, tolterodine, and darifenacin have chemical properties that make them unlikely to reach the brain, and therefore less likely to cause cognitive side effects Ebony Evans was a summer intern at Aging and Alzheimer's Prevention at the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation. Here’s why that’s bad: Out of the six antimuscarinic medications used for OAB, oxybutynin is linked with the highest rates of cognitive decline in the elderly. OXYTROL is a muscarinic antagonist indicated for the treatment of overactive bladder in men with symptoms of urge urinary incontinence, urgency, and frequency.. She received her bachelor of science degree in health science with a minor in public service from Long Island University.This website does not provide, and should not be used for, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.