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Parkinson’s: Cough medicine may help slow down cognitive decline

A cough medicine may help slow down dementia progression in people with Parkinson’s disease.
Image credit: DEV IMAGES/Getty Images.

• Parkinson’s disease dementia develops in people who have a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.
• Experts are interested in finding the best ways to address and prevent Parkinson’s disease dementia.
• A randomized clinical trial found that the drug Ambroxol may help stabilize the neuropsychiatric symptoms of Parkinson’s disease dementia and confirmed the safety of the drug’s use among participants.

Dementia is a common problem that remains a critical focus of clinical research. One subtype of dementia is Parkinson’s disease dementia, which has to do with the mental changes that occur in some people who already have Parkinson’s disease.

A study published in JAMA Neurology Trusted Source compared the outcome of the expectorant Ambroxol with a placebo among participants with Parkinson’s disease dementia.

While primary and secondary outcomes were similar, participants on the placebo experienced worsening neuropsychiatric symptoms compared to symptoms remaining the same in the intervention group.

The results also showed a possible improvement in cognitive symptoms for people with variants of a particular gene.