Scientists have Found Evidence...
Added On : 25th February 2012
Scientists have Found Evidence that Prescribing a "Chemical Cosh" Drugs to Dementia Patients can Double their Risk of Early Death. Antipsychotics are widely used in care homes and hospitals, but critics argue they are often given to sedate patients to make them easier to look after rather than for any medical benefit.
Guidelines say they should only be used as a last resort and over a short period of time, but in some cases patients have been prescribed them for years.
Now American researchers have found one in particular, called haloperidol, seems particularly dangerous.
Compared with another anti-psychotic drug called risperidone, elderly users of haloperidol with dementia had double the risk of death.
The results of the study, which analysed effects of six drugs widely used in US nursing home, are published online in the British Medical Journal.
The academics, led by Harvard Medical School, concluded that the findings "provide more evidence of the risk of using these drugs in older patients, reinforcing the concept that they should not be used in the absence of clear need."
A Government-commissioned review in 2009 found 180,000 people with dementia in Britain were prescribed antipsychotics, of which 144,000 were given them inappropriately.
The drugs have been dubbed a "chemical cosh" due their effects and are thought to contribute to the premature deaths of 1,800 patients a year.
Rebecca Wood, chief executive at Alzheimer's Research UK, said: "The risks associated with antipsychotics are well-established, and these findings underline the importance of ensuring that where these drugs are prescribed, their use must be carefully monitored."
Sube Banerjee, professor of mental health and ageing at the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College London, who led the 2009 review, noted that haloperidol only tended to be used in Britain in a hospital setting for dementia patients.
