Healthcare professionals prescribe donepezil medication to treat people with dementia- a mental disorder that affects a person’s thinking and memory. Healthcare professionals have been debating that this medication increases the risk of death as it makes the heartbeat irregular. But, according to the research published in the Journal of American Geriatrics Society on April 5, 2024, donepezil doesn’t increase the risk of death.
In 2020, healthcare professionals prescribed donepezil medication to almost 6 million patients in the United States. Even though this medication is prescribed to treat symptoms like memory loss, it causes side effects such as nausea, loss of hunger, diarrhea, and urinary problems in some people. That’s why research is needed to know how well this medication works.
Researchers from McMaster University conducted research and tried to understand whether people who took donepezil were at higher risk of heart arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat) related to QT interval. The QT interval is basically the time it takes the heart’s electrical system to complete its job and reset. It was compared with people who did not take the medication.
The research, led by Tina Nham, collected data from 60 randomized trials and involved 12,000 people. When researchers observed this collected data, they found that there was no association between donepezil medication and the risk of heart arrhythmias. The findings of this research show that donepezil medication can work effectively for people with dementia.
As the number of people with dementia is on the rise in Canada, there is a need to make some effective management strategies. Healthcare professionals can prescribe donepezil medication to treat people with dementia as it doesn’t increase the risk of heart arrhythmias.
The findings of this research will be very helpful for healthcare professionals to make effective strategies to treat people with dementia. Even though this research says it does not increase the risk of heart arrhythmias, more research is needed to understand its risks for people who are already having heart diseases.
Reference Link:
Tina Nham et al, Proarrhythmic major adverse cardiac events with donepezil: A systematic review with meta‐analysis, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (2024).
