Antipsychotic drugs being provided to patients with Alzheimer’s disease as sedatives are actually, providing these patients with premature deaths, a new study by the British researchers reveals.
In this five-year long study that involved 165 patients with Alzheimer’s found that patients with Alzheimer who were provided with these drugs died almost six months earlier than patients who were provided with placebo. Exploring this conglomeration further, experts found that these neuroleptics were strongly associated with a significant deterioration in verbal fluency and cognitive function. Commenting on these findings Professor Clive Ballard of King’s College London remarked:
The latest study showed there was no benefit in giving neuroleptics to people with mild Alzheimer’s. For people with more severe behavioral problems, doctors had to balance potential benefits against the increased mortality.
Normally, these antipsychotic drugs are prescribed to patients with schizophrenia. However, sometimes these drugs are prescribed for patients with aggressive dementia too. This latest study shows that the use of these neuroleptics may play havoc with the lives of patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Moreover, the situation seems more worst when the Alzheimer’s Research Trust reveals that up to 45 per cent of people with Alzheimer’s in nursing homes are prescribed neuroleptics as sedatives.
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Via: Reuters