ReviewCNS drugs2016
The Benzodiazepine-Dementia Disorders Link: Current State of Knowledge.
Review in CNS drugs, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 124 citations in OpenAlex.
- Applying the Bradford Hill Criteria to Assess the Independent Causal Roles of Aging and Medication in Frailty Progression: A Systematic Review.Drugs & aging · 2026Pooled it
- Is there a link between the use of benzodiazepines and related drugs and dementia? A systematic review of reviews.European geriatric medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of computerised cognitive training on cognitive impairment: a meta-analysis.Journal of neurology · 2021Pooled it
- Benzodiazepines and Related Drugs as a Risk Factor in Alzheimer's Disease Dementia.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2019Pooled it
- Lorazepam Challenge for Individuals at Varying Genetic Risk for Alzheimer Disease.Alzheimer disease and associated disordersTrial
- Prevalence and Severity of Cognitive Impairment Among Older Adults Using Benzodiazepines in Primary Care: Association with Duration of Use and Prescribing Pattern in Mexico.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Selective molecular and network architecture features underlie brain cortical atrophy in dementia with Lewy bodies.Journal of biomedical science · 2026Article
- A Causal Association Between Drug Use and Cognitive Impairment: A Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study.Brain and behavior · 2025Article
- Neurosteroids and translocator protein 18 kDa (TSPO) ligands as novel treatment options in depression.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Review
- Drug Related Problems among Older Inpatients at a Tertiary Care Setting.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Neurosteroids and translocator protein 18 kDa (TSPO) in depression: implications for synaptic plasticity, cognition, and treatment options.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2023Review
- Symptomatic and neurotrophic effects of GABAA receptor positive allosteric modulation in a mouse model of chronic stress.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Article
- Translocator protein (18kDa) TSPO: a new diagnostic or therapeutic target for stress-related disorders?Molecular psychiatry · 2022Review
- Effect of Modified Yukmijihwang-Tang on Sleep Quality in the Rat.Clocks & sleep · 2022Article
- Effect of Long-Term Benzodiazepines for Chronic Insomnia on Cognitive Function and Waking Electroencephalography: A Case-Control Study.Psychiatry investigation · 2022Article
- Sedative-Hypnotic Activity of the Water Extracts ofClocks & sleep · 2022Article
- Long-term diazepam treatment enhances microglial spine engulfment and impairs cognitive performance via the mitochondrial 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO).Nature neuroscience · 2022Article
- The clinical correlation between Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Review
- A bibliometric analysis of the recent advances in diazepam from 2012 to 2021.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Benzodiazepine use and the risk of dementia.Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The short-term effects of benzodiazepines on memory are well established and are suspected in the long term. Eleven studies have been published so far concerning benzodiazepine use and the risk of dementia disorders; nine of these studies concluded these drugs have a deleterious effect, one found a protective effect, and one (the most recently published) observed no effect. The positive association found in some studies could be due to a reverse causation bias since the main indications for benzodiazepines (e.g. sleep disorders, anxiety) can also be prodromes of dementia disorders. This bias is less likely for treatments started more than 10 years before the diagnosis. Among others, three mechanisms could underlie the potential influence of benzodiazepines on the development of dementia disorders. First, benzodiazepines can decrease beta-site amyloid precursor protein-cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE-1) and γ-secretase activity and slow down the accumulation of Aβ oligomers in the brain. This potential positive effect has never been confirmed; the same is true for the prevention of excitotoxicity through benzodiazepine anti-glutamatergic action. Second, since astrocytes located in the area of amyloid plaques could have gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-secreting activity, patients with pre-dementia lesions could be at increased risk of presenting with more pronounced deleterious cognitive effects of benzodiazepines. Finally, owing to the neural compensation and cognitive reserve concepts, some subjects could cope with initial lesions by using/developing alternative networks. By lowering the brain activation level, benzodiazepines could limit this capacity. In conclusion, it is essential that animal studies explore the mechanistic hypotheses of this association found by most of the pharmacoepidemiological studies conducted on this topic.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.