{"id":3792,"date":"2026-09-15T07:00:51","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T12:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/?p=3792"},"modified":"2026-09-15T08:11:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T13:11:10","slug":"studies-show-links-between-gabapentin-and-cognitive-decline-and-dementia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/studies-show-links-between-gabapentin-and-cognitive-decline-and-dementia\/","title":{"rendered":"Studies Show Links Between Gabapentin and Cognitive Decline and Dementia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-3793\" src=\"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/brett_hondow-pills-1190217-scaled-e1789336656233.jpg\" alt=\"brett_hondow-pills-1190217-scaled-e1789336656233\" width=\"677\" height=\"400\" \/>Gabapentin is a prescription medication, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) analogue, that reduces the excitability of neurons. It is used to control and prevent partial seizures, to relieve neuralgia, and to treat restless legs syndrome. It\u2019s also used off label to address anxiety disorders, migraines, insomnia, drug and alcohol withdrawal symptoms, and for non-approved pain problems like nerve pain from sciatica. The brand names of gabapentin are Neurontin, Horizant, and Gralise. Some states have classified gabapentin as a Schedule V controlled substance due to the number of deaths from overdose, but prescriptions are climbing anyway. <a href=\"https:\/\/my.clevelandclinic.org\/health\/drugs\/21561-gabapentin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Recent studies<\/a> have shown that there may be cognitive dangers in using gabapentin, including the risk of dementia. If you believe your cognitive decline (or your loved one\u2019s cognitive decline) is the result of gabapentin use, you should call the seasoned Chicago-based product liability lawyers of Moll Law Group.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Contact Moll Law Group About Your Gabapentin Claim<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Evidence has accumulated that gabapentin use may come with cognitive risks; studies demonstrate that there are increased rates of cognitive decline and dementia in those patients that use the prescription drug. For instance, one study found that those treated for chronic low backpain with six or more gabapentin prescriptions had an 85% higher risk of mild cognitive impairment and 29% higher risk of dementia within 10 years compared to those who had no gabapentin prescriptions after being diagnosed. This higher risk wasn\u2019t limited to the older patients\u2014even adults between ages 35-49 had over two times the risk of dementia and over three times the risk of mild cognitive impairment than their peers in the group that didn\u2019t take gabapentin. There was elevated danger of cognitive impairment and dementia for those between ages 50-64, too.<\/p>\n<p>A Case Western study also implies a connection between gabapentin and increased risk of dementia in otherwise cognitively healthy adults. And in <em>Frontiers in Pharmacology<\/em>, a study compared the neurocognitive changes between (1) 480 adults who were 65 or older but not cognitively impaired who started taking gabapentin and (2) a group of 4320 adults that didn\u2019t take the drug. The researchers determined that the gabapentin group had 1.5 to 1.9 times the chances of developing cognitive decline after a year compared with the non-gabapentin group. The same lead scientist conducted another comparative study, examining those adults who did have cognitive impairment when they started taking gabapentin; in those cases, the gabapentin use wasn\u2019t significantly linked with cognitive decline within two years.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/studies-show-links-between-gabapentin-and-cognitive-decline-and-dementia\/#more-3792\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gabapentin is a prescription medication, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) analogue, that reduces the excitability of neurons. It is used to control and prevent partial seizures, to relieve neuralgia, and to treat restless legs syndrome. It\u2019s also used off label to address anxiety disorders, migraines, insomnia, drug and alcohol withdrawal symptoms, and for non-approved pain problems [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prescription-drug-injuries","category-product-liability"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Studies Show Links Between Gabapentin and Cognitive Decline and Dementia &#8212; Illinois Injury and Mass Tort Lawyer Blog &#8212; September 15, 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gabapentin is a prescription medication, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) analogue, that reduces the excitability of neurons. It is used to control and &#8212; September 15, 2026\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/studies-show-links-between-gabapentin-and-cognitive-decline-and-dementia\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Studies Show Links Between Gabapentin and Cognitive Decline and Dementia &#8212; Illinois Injury and Mass Tort Lawyer Blog &#8212; September 15, 2026\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Gabapentin is a prescription medication, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) analogue, that reduces the excitability of neurons. It is used to control and &#8212; September 15, 2026\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/brett_hondow-pills-1190217-scaled-e1789336656233.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Moll Law Group\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Studies Show Links Between Gabapentin and Cognitive Decline and Dementia &#8212; Illinois Injury and Mass Tort Lawyer Blog &#8212; September 15, 2026","description":"Gabapentin is a prescription medication, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) analogue, that reduces the excitability of neurons. 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It is used to control and &#8212; September 15, 2026","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/brett_hondow-pills-1190217-scaled-e1789336656233.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Moll Law Group","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/studies-show-links-between-gabapentin-and-cognitive-decline-and-dementia\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/studies-show-links-between-gabapentin-and-cognitive-decline-and-dementia\/"},"author":{"name":"Moll Law Group","@id":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/53d2eb37d5d0cdb46ac61abacf05ce90"},"headline":"Studies Show Links Between Gabapentin and Cognitive Decline and Dementia","datePublished":"2026-09-15T12:00:51+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-15T13:11:10+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/studies-show-links-between-gabapentin-and-cognitive-decline-and-dementia\/"},"wordCount":547,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/studies-show-links-between-gabapentin-and-cognitive-decline-and-dementia\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/brett_hondow-pills-1190217-scaled-e1789336656233.jpg","articleSection":["Prescription Drug Injuries","Product Liability"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/studies-show-links-between-gabapentin-and-cognitive-decline-and-dementia\/","url":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/studies-show-links-between-gabapentin-and-cognitive-decline-and-dementia\/","name":"Studies Show Links Between Gabapentin and Cognitive Decline and Dementia &#8212; Illinois Injury and Mass Tort Lawyer Blog &#8212; September 15, 2026","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/studies-show-links-between-gabapentin-and-cognitive-decline-and-dementia\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/studies-show-links-between-gabapentin-and-cognitive-decline-and-dementia\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/brett_hondow-pills-1190217-scaled-e1789336656233.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-15T12:00:51+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-15T13:11:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.molllawgroup.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/53d2eb37d5d0cdb46ac61abacf05ce90"},"description":"Gabapentin is a prescription medication, gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA) analogue, that reduces the excitability of neurons. 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