United States: Antipsychotics are shown to be responsible for the increased likelihood of suffering many serious health problems in patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s dementia, as the most recent study reveals.
People with dementia who are taking antipsychotics are at greater risk of suffering from strokes, blood clots, heart attacks, kidney failure, and more and researchers disclosed this in BMJ published on April 17th.
Pearl Mok, the team leader and a research fellow with the University of Manchester in England, said, “A move away from the overprescription of antipsychotics is overdue,” as the US News reported.
More about the study
The study advances the ongoing probe by the US Department of Medicare and Medicaid Services into the overdose of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes.
Due to the data appearing in the investigation that was launched last year, nursing homes might have been falsely naming patients as schizophrenic, given an explanation that they were psychotic to be given antipsychotic drugs.
In the present study, the researchers extracted data on 174,000 individuals from England who had dementia between January 1988 and May 2018, at an average age of 82.
With notable respect that 35500 dementia patients were on antipsychotic treatment, they were instead compared with up to 15 randomly selected patients who had never taken an antipsychotic.
Comparing the groups, the scientists discovered that patients under the influence of antipsychotics had their risk of pneumonia increased two times.
More about the findings of the research
There are about 4.5 percent of dementia patients on antipsychotic drugs who develop pneumonia within three months of taking the meds and this is three times the rate of non-users – which is 1.5 percent.
The medications were also linked to a 72 percent increase in renal damage, a 62 percent increased risk of blood clots, a 61 percent increased risk of stroke, 43 percent more in osteoporotic fractures, 28 percent more in coronary attack, and 27 percent more in cardiac failure.
According to the findings, those with extra risk were more on the first week of their side effects, and mostly it was for pneumonia, researchers said.
The most typically prescribed antipsychotics are risperidone, quetiapine, haloperidol, and olanzapine, and this was the statement of the researchers. Together, they (the last two) made almost 80 percent of all prescriptions.
According to international guidelines, these drugs must be restricted to patients with dementia whose severe behaviors and psychological symptoms cannot be dealt with successfully in any other way, the authors added.
Although the use of antipsychotic prescription is increasing in recent times, it is to a large extent because of a shortage of non-drug treatment options and the substantial resources required to implement the treatment options that are available, according to researchers.
Besides, antipsychotics may lead to side effects, including drowsiness, mental confusion, agitation, and difficulty in walking, as reported by the Alzheimer’s Society.
Individuals using them, as well as people taking them as a medicine, also risk the development of swelling of the lower part of the body, infections, and blood clots.