‘Dementia link to sudden low blood pressure and dizziness’
October 13, 2024
Ground-breaking research has discovered that the tablets – which can cost as little as 32p a day – can slow the symptoms of the killer brain disease and have the added benefit of protecting against heart and cardiovascular problems.
It means the simple drugs could be harnessed as a new weapon to beat devastating heart conditions which kill at least 160,000 people each year in the UK.
Scientists from Umea University in Sweden studied more than 7,000 Alzheimer’s sufferers.
They found that those taking drugs called cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs), which are used for treating mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease, had a 36 per cent reduced risk of death from any cause.
They also had a 38 per cent lower risk of a heart attack and a 26 per cent reduced risk of death from cardiovascular causes such as stroke compared to people not taking the drugs.
Patients taking the highest recommended doses had the lowest risk of heart attack or death – 65 per cent and 46 per cent lower respectively – compared with those who had never used the drugs such as donepezil (Aricept), rivastigmine (Exelon) and galantamine (Reminyl).
Lead researcher Professor Peter Nordstrom, said: “If you translate these reductions in risk into absolute figures, it means for every 100,000 people with Alzheimer’s disease, there would be 180 fewer heart attacks – 295 as opposed to 475 – and 1,125 fewer deaths from all causes – 2,000 versus 3,125 – every year among those taking ChEIs compared to those not
Measures to tackle a historic shortage in medics specialising in accident and emergency are also included in the Government’s mandate for Health Education England (HEE).
Under the plans, more nurses will have part of their training in the community and the NHS will have enough midwives and maternity staff for all expectant mothers to receive personalised one-to-one care.
Health minister Dan Poulter said: “The staff working in our NHS are our health service’s most precious resource, and we must do all we can to ensure that our staff have the right values, training and skills to deliver the very highest quality of care for patients.
“Today’s mandate to Health Education England, backed by a £5 billion budget, will help our many dedicated frontline staff to further improve their ability to care for patients as well as enabling our NHS to train the next generation of doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants.”
In a joint foreword to the document, Dr Poulter and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: “The terrible events at Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust and the Francis Report reinforces the need to recruit NHS and public health staff with the right values and the need to put the delivery of high quality compassionate care at the heart of our NHS.”
Source The Express