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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 January 2024
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).
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