ArticleJournal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD2017
Use of Analgesics (Opioids and Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) and Dementia-Related Neuropathology in a Community-Based Autopsy Cohort.
Article in Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Chronic Pain and the Risk of Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Current pain and headache reports · 2026Pooled it
- Orofacial pain and dementia: a brief narrative review of associations, putative mechanisms, and relevant clinical considerations.Odontology · 2026Review
- Medication Exposure and Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Opioids and Dementia in the Danish Population.JAMA network open · 2024Article
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- Article
- Opioids in the Elderly Patients with Cognitive Impairment: A Narrative Review.Pain and therapy · 2022Review
- Ophthalmology-Based Neuropathology Risk Factors: Diabetic Retinopathy is Associated with Deep Microinfarcts in a Community-Based Autopsy Study.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2019Article
- Withaferin A Suppresses Beta Amyloid in APP Expressing Cells: Studies for Tat and Cocaine Associated Neurological Dysfunctions.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2018Article
- Exposure to Strong Anticholinergic Medications and Dementia-Related Neuropathology in a Community-Based Autopsy Cohort.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2018Article
- Associations between Use of Specific Analgesics and Concentrations of Amyloid-β 42 or Phospho-Tau in Regions of Human Cerebral Cortex.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundOpioids may influence the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Some studies have observed AD pathology in the brains of opioid abusers. No study has examined the association between prescription opioid use and dementia-related neuropathologic changes.
objectiveTo examine the relationship between prescription opioid or NSAID use and dementia-related neuropathologic changes.
methodsWithin a community-based autopsy cohort (N = 420), we ascertained opioid and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) use over a 10-year period from automated pharmacy data and calculated total standardized daily doses (TSDDs). A neuropathologist assessed outcomes including neuritic plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and macroscopic infarcts. Outcome measures were dichotomized using established cutpoints. We used modified Poisson regression to calculate adjusted relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), accounting for participant characteristics and using weighting to account for possible selection bias related to selection into the autopsy sample.
resultsHeavier opioid exposure was not associated with greater neuropathologic changes. For neuritic plaques, the adjusted RR [95% CI] was 0.99 [0.64-1.47] for 91+ TSDDs of opioids versus little to no use, and for neurofibrillary tangles, 0.97 [0.49-1.78]. People with heavy NSAID use had higher risk of neuritic plaques (RR 1.39 [1.01-1.89]) than those with little to no use, as we have previously reported. Neither opioid nor NSAID use was associated with higher risk of macroscopic infarcts or with Lewy body disease.
conclusionPrescription opioid use is not associated with dementia-related neuropathologic changes, but heavy NSAID use may be. More research is needed examining chronic pain, its pharmacologic treatments, and neuropathologic changes.
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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.