According to a new study, regular use of benzodiazepines -- which include medications such as Valium (diazepam), Ativan (lorazepam), Xanax (alprazolam) and Klonopin (clonazepam) -- is associated with as much as a 51 percent increased risk for Alzheimer's among people who use the drugs for three months or more.
This is not the first study to suggest a link between use of this class of drugs and increased dementia risk. Another study published in 2012, also in BMJ, followed 1,063 elderly individuals for 20 years. The researchers in that study determined that the risk for dementia was 4.8 per 100 person-years among people who took benzodiazepines versus 3.2 per 100 person-years in the group not taking the drugs.
Here, if one increases the number 3.2 by 50% (1.6), they get 4.8. However, the real increase is just 1.6 (100 person-years), 1.6%.
Another study reported on by a reviewer said that an increase of 1 person in 10,000 to 3 persons per 10,000 was a threefold increase, or 300%! Wrong! The correct increase is 0.0001 to 0.0003, or an increase of 0.02%.
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