Alarming as medication taken by thousands of Britons has been linked to dementia in new research

Overactive bladder drugs taken by hundreds of thousands of Brits could increase the risk of developing dementia, new research suggests.

The pills, called anticholinergics, work by reducing the activity of certain muscles to stop the bladder from contracting.

This helps stop the spasms that can cause incontinence and the need to urinate frequently.

But a new study of almost 1 million Britons suggests that some types of these drugs may increase the risk of dementia by around a third.

British experts analyzed the health records of just over 170,000 patients in England over the age of 55 with dementia and compared them with 800,000 patients without the memory-robbing disorder.

Overall, the authors found that taking an anticholinergic drug was associated with an 18 percent increased risk of being diagnosed with dementia.

However, they found that the increased risk was slightly higher in men: 22 percent, compared to 16 percent in women.

Some specific types of medications also carried a much higher risk.

Those prescribed oxybutynin hydrochloride had a 31 percent increased risk of dementia, and those prescribed tolterodine tartrate had a 27 percent increased risk.

The experts said their findings highlighted the need for doctors to consider alternative treatments for overactive bladder in older patients.

NHS data shows that the health service in England issues hundreds of thousands of prescriptions for these drugs every month.

The authors, who published their research in the British medical journalResearch showed that some types of anticholinergics were not associated with an increased risk of dementia.

These were darifenacin, fesoterodine fumarate, flavoxate hydrochloride, propiverine hydrochloride and trospium chloride.

The experts also analyzed a non-anticholinergic drug called mirabegron, which is also prescribed to patients with overactive bladder, but works by a different mechanism than anticholinergics.

Although the scientists found some evidence that there is a link between dementia and this drug, they noted that the data was not clear and that further research is needed.

NHS-backed data source OpenPrescribe records around 110,000 prescriptions of oxybutynin per month

Concluding their report, they said that doctors should “consider the potential long-term risks and consequences of available treatment options for overactive bladder in older adults.”

Doctors should “consider prescribing alternative treatments that may be associated with a lower risk of dementia,” she added.

The study was based on an analysis of health data from 170,742 Britons aged over 55 with dementia who had taken an anticholinergic or mirabegron for three to 16 years before being diagnosed with dementia.

To make a comparison, each Briton with dementia was matched with a participant from a control group of 800,000 men by exact age, gender and general practice.

The study had several limitations. The first of these is that data on the exact dosage given to patients was lacking, meaning the authors could not fully investigate whether higher doses of some drugs led to an increased risk of dementia over time.

Another example was data based on patient records, which may have been unreliable or incomplete.

The study is not the first to link certain anticholinergic drugs to an increased risk of dementia, although it is not yet fully clear how exactly the drugs affect the brain.

Previous studies have shown that oxybutynin, sold under the brands Aspire, Ditropan and Kentera, may pose a particular risk because it has a smaller molecular size than other types.

If you can’t learn new tasks and have trouble staying focused on one task, it could be a sign of dementia

This, experts say, allows it to penetrate deeper into the brain and have a stronger effect on the sensitive tissues there.

The NHS-backed data source OpenPrescribe records around 110,000 prescriptions for oxybutynin per month, at a cost of just 15p per pill to the taxpayer.

Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a range of progressive conditions that affect memory, thinking and behavior.

There are many types of dementia, with Alzheimer’s disease being the most common.

Dementia is a growing problem in Britain due to an aging population, with almost a million people estimated to be living with the condition, although this is expected to increase.

The condition is believed to cost the country around £40 billion a year, a combination of healthcare costs and loss of income as people have to take time off work to care for their relatives.

The new study comes just days after Britons were warned that another drug, this time to treat acid reflux, is also linked to dementia.