According to a new study on regularly given medicines, steroid use can alter the structure of the brain.
Nearly 25,000 brain scans revealed that patients using glucocorticoids had less white matter – the tissue that connects brain regions.
According to Dutch experts, their “amazing” discoveries may explain the link between drugs and neurological disorders.
Patients with asthma, arthritis and eczema are regularly administered steroids. However, common adverse effects include anxiety, mood fluctuations, and sadness.
Although never confirmed, it is widely believed that steroids are responsible for the paralyzing effects.
The latest study published in BMJ Open does not conclusively establish that medications are to blame.
However, evidence from specialists at Leiden University suggests a possible mechanism that could explain the adverse consequences.
According to Professor Onno Meijer and his colleagues, it is ‘probable’ that glucocorticoids cause brain alterations.
Given that the exact effects of the modifications remain unknown, additional research is required to corroborate the findings.
However, they concluded that the findings may partially explain the neuropsychiatric adverse effects found in glucocorticoid-treated patients.
One in 200 people in developed nations uses glucocorticoids, rising to one in 100 in the United Kingdom and the United States.
Common forms include beclomethasone (asthma) and betamethasone (arthritis) (arthritis).
The medications are classified as either inhaled or systemic, with the latter classification including tablets and injections.
They function by dampening the immune system, whose hyperactivity leads to illnesses such as arthritis, asthma, and eczema.
Researchers analyzed information from 24,885 UK Biobank participants.
The database contains health information on 500,000 Britons who had dozens of scans and answered lifestyle questions.
Approximately 222 individuals utilized systemic steroids, 557 used inhaled steroids, and 24,106 were steroid-free.
None of the subjects had been diagnosed with neurological disorders or were on mood-altering medications such as antidepressants.
Professor Meijer and his team compared the MRI brain scans and mood surveys of the subjects.
White matter was ‘less intact’ in steroid users compared to those who did not take the medications.
Long-term use of glucocorticoids in tablet or injection form, as opposed to inhaled formulations, was associated with the greatest decrease in white matter.
Systematic drug users had a greater caudate than those who did not use the drug.
Those who were administered inhaled steroids had a smaller amygdala.
The amygdala and caudate are both involved in cognitive and emotional processing.
Those who took systemic steroids also fared worse than non-users on a test measuring processing speed.
In addition, they reported significantly higher rates of sadness, restlessness, and weariness than non-users.
Users of inhaled steroids reported only more fatigue than non-users.
The authors highlighted that participants were only asked a few questions about their mood and that decreased levels of happiness may have been attributable to their medical condition rather than the prescribed medications.
