Scientists have long warned of the risks inherent in excessive and inappropriate use of antibiotics, which has generated, among other problems, bacterial resistance to these drugs. Now a new study reveals another cause for concern, as it has found that middle-aged women who take antibiotics are more at risk of developing cognitive decline later in life.
The research leading to this conclusion has been conducted by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Rush Medical College and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the School of Medicine. Harvard Medicine, who have published their findings in PLOS ONE.
Antibiotics alter the gut-brain axis
The results of previous studies have suggested a connection between the health of the gut microbiome and mental health due to what is known as the gut-brain axis, which is the communication between the gut and the central nervous system. In fact, there are studies that show an apparent link between intestinal problems and mental disorders such as depression and schizophrenia.
Nurses who had taken antibiotics for at least two months scored lower on cognitive tests than those who took them for a shorter period, or didn’t take them at all
Other research has also discovered that the consumption of antibiotics can trigger serious alterations in the microbiome, something that is not uncommon if we take into account that a large part of its population is made up of bacteria. The authors of the new study have found a relationship between the use of antibiotics by middle-aged women and a higher degree of cognitive impairment than is considered normal.
Worse cognitive outcomes in those who took antibiotics
To conduct the study, the researchers obtained data from the Nurses’ Health Study II, which collects health data on nurses over several years, and focused on middle-aged nurses (mean age 54.7 years). They analyzed data from 15,129 nurses who reported their use of antibiotics and the results of cognitive scores recorded several years later, and compared those professionals who had taken these types of drugs for different durations with those who had not.
Cognitive tests consisted of computerized card-based tasks aimed at measuring participants’ speed of thinking, attention, learning, and memory. Each of the nurses was classified into one of four categories based on their antibiotic use, ranging from no use to more than two months of use.
The researchers found that nurses who had taken antibiotics for at least two months scored lower on cognitive tests (taken seven years later) than nurses who had taken antibiotics for a shorter period, or had not taken them at all. These experts suggest that the reduction was roughly equivalent to three or four years of aging.
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