Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T07:57:29.242Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

16 - Excessive Laxative Use and Dementia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2024

Daniel Gibbs
Affiliation:
Emeritus of Oregon Health and Science University
Get access

Summary

A recent study in Neurology provides the best data yet on the effect of long-term, chronic laxative use on risk of getting dementia. In this 10-year study of 502,229 UK Biobank participants, the regular use of laxatives was associated with a higher risk of all-cause and vascular dementia. At the start of the study, the average age was 57 years, and none of the participants had dementia. Over the subsequent 10 years, 1.3% of those who regularly used laxatives developed dementia. Regular use was defined as taken almost every day. Only 0.4% of those not regularly using laxatives developed dementia. After adjusting for factors such as age, sex, education, other illnesses, and medication use, participants who regularly used laxatives were 1.51 times more likely to develop dementia compared to people who did not regularly use laxatives (hazard ratio = 1.51).

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Rutsch, A, Kantsjö, JB, Ronchi, F. The gut-brain axis: How microbiota and host inflammasome influence brain physiology and pathology. Front Immunol 2020; 11: 604179. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.604179. PMID: 33362788; PMCID: PMC7758428 (open access).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, Z, Wei, C, Li, X, et al. Association between regular laxative use and incident dementia in UK Biobank participants. Neurology 2023; 100: e1702–e1711. https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000207081.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Excessive Laxative Use and Dementia
  • Daniel Gibbs, Emeritus of Oregon Health and Science University
  • Book: Dispatches from the Land of Alzheimer's
  • Online publication: 19 January 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009430067.017
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Excessive Laxative Use and Dementia
  • Daniel Gibbs, Emeritus of Oregon Health and Science University
  • Book: Dispatches from the Land of Alzheimer's
  • Online publication: 19 January 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009430067.017
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Excessive Laxative Use and Dementia
  • Daniel Gibbs, Emeritus of Oregon Health and Science University
  • Book: Dispatches from the Land of Alzheimer's
  • Online publication: 19 January 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009430067.017
Available formats
×