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Scottish researchers are investigating whether a low dose of the Alzheimer’s drug memantine could be used to treat subjective cognitive impairment.
The team at CPS research in Glasgow, Scotland, is seeking people aged between 50 and 80 who have found themselves becoming more forgetful to take part in the study, which will involve five memory tests.
Dr Alan Wade said: “Forgetfulness is an ordinary part of getting older, but anecdotal evidence suggests that it is now affecting people earlier in life as a result of busy work and home lives and so-called ‘information overload’ from the various media channels we consume today.
“We are investigating whether an already-licensed drug could hold a key to aiding forgetfulness and lack of concentration.”
The team said evidence shows people are becoming increasingly absent-minded as they struggle to cope with constant streams of information from mobile phones, the internet, radio and television.
As a result, they are regularly misplacing items or forgetting people’s names, the group said.
Dr Wade said the memantine research was aimed at people who have trouble retaining information, which he underlined was not to be confused with the serious memory loss that can be associated with early-onset dementia.
