Valium worry

Press, 19 April 1982, Page 8

Valium worry

NZPA London Brain damage similar to that found in >very heavy drinkers, and alcoholics. ■ is being discovered in people who have taken the popular tranquilliser Valium for long periods', the London “Observer” has reported. ' Valium is among the world’s most commonly prescribed drugs, and the new findings described by the British specialist at a conference at the National Institutes of Health in Washington provide further evidence for extreme caution in taking tranquillisers for more than short periods of time, said the newspaper’s Washington correspondent. Brain scans on a small group of 20 patients who had been taking Valium for five to ten years reveal evidence of cerebral atrophy or neuronal “drop-out." and brain shrinkage among other signs of impairment. Five of the 20 patients had normal brain scans. A fur-

ther 10 had chiefly normal scans but also had varying signs of some changes that might indicate impairment The last five, however, showed what was described as • “gross abnormality," which was very similar "to changes in alcoholic brains. Professor Malcolm Lader, professor of psychopharmacology at the Institute of Psychiatry, in London, who carried out the study, insisted that his work is "very preliminary’/ and does not necessarily 'lndicate cause and effect. ■ “It may be that the abnormal brain scans are due to other reasons or even that the people most likely to take tranquillisers such as Valium for a long time are more prone to these types of brain changes. But it’s' something I would worry about if I had it myself, and until we know the cause we should take great care in using tranquillisers for a long time," he said.