ANTIDEPRESSANTS LINKED TO HIGHER RISK OF DEMENTIA

Common drugs including antidepressants could increase the risk of dementia by up to 50 per cent, a major study has found.

Experts said the findings had “enormous implications” for millions of Britons, with half of middle-aged people taking one of the medications.

The class of drugs is called anticholinergic medication.

Scientists said they could be responsible for as many as one in 10 cases of dementia.

The study by Nottingham University, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, involved more than 280,000 patients in the United Kingdom over the age of 55 — including about 59,000 with a diagnosis of dementia.