Can lithium prevent dementia?

Dr Perminder Sachdev

writer

Dr Perminder Sachdev

Scientia Professor of Neuropsychiatry, Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), School of Psychiatry, UNSW

Claim CPD for this activity

Educational Activities (EA)

0 hours

These are activities that expand general practice knowledge, skills and attitudes, related to your scope of practice.

Reviewing Performance (RP)

0 hours

These are activities that require reflection on feedback about your work.

Measuring Outcomes (MO)

0 hours

These are activities that use your work data to ensure quality results.

EA
0 minutes

These are activities that expand general practice knowledge, skills and attitudes, related to your scope of practice.

RP
0 minutes

These are activities that require reflection on feedback about your work.

MO
0 minutes

These are activities that use your work data to ensure quality results.

Dr Perminder Sachdev

When people think of lithium, it’s usually to do with batteries, but lithium also has a long history in medicine. Lithium carbonate, or lithium salt, is mainly used to treat and prevent bipolar disorder. This is a condition in which a person experiences significant mood swings from highs that can tip into mania to lows that can plunge into depression.

More recently, though, lithium has been explored as a potential preventive therapy for dementia. A recent paper even led some to question whether we should start putting lithium in drinking water to lower population dementia rates.

But despite early studies linking lithium to better cognitive function, there is currently not enough evidence to start using it as a preventive dementia strategy.

PASSWORD RESET

Forgot your password or password not working? Please enter your email address. You will receive an email with the link to set a new password.

Icon 2

NEXT LIVE Webcast

:
Days
:
Hours
:
Minutes
Seconds
Dr Fiona Chan

Dr Fiona Chan

Vision and Driving Fitness: Key Insights for Health Practitioners

Dr Terri Foran

Dr Terri Foran

Role of Testosterone During Menopause – Evidence vs Hype

Prof Jason Ong

Prof Jason Ong

STIs – Common and Tricky Cases

A/Prof Daryl Cheng

A/Prof Daryl Cheng

RSV Prevention in Infants and Pregnant Women

Join us for the next free webcast for GPs and healthcare professionals

High quality lectures delivered by leading independent experts

Share this

Share this

Dr Perminder Sachdev

writer

Dr Perminder Sachdev

Scientia Professor of Neuropsychiatry, Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), School of Psychiatry, UNSW

Test your knowledge

Recent articles

Latest GP poll

Has a clinic you work at ever received an unfair negative online review?

Yes

0%

No

0%

Recent podcasts

Listen to expert interviews.
Click to open in a new tab

Find your area of interest

Once you confirm you’ve read this article you can complete a Patient Case Review to earn 0.5 hours CPD in the Reviewing Performance (RP) category.

Select ‘Confirm & learn‘ when you have read this article in its entirety and you will be taken to begin your Patient Case Review.

Menopause and MHT

Multiple sclerosis vs antibody disease

Using SGLT2 to reduce cardiovascular death in T2D

Peripheral arterial disease