Antipsychotic drugs double risk of death among Alzheimer’s patients
New research into the effects of antipsychotic drugs commonly prescribed to Alzheimer’s patients concludes that the medication nearly doubles risk of death over three years.
The study, funded by the Alzheimer’s Research Trust, was led by Prof Clive Ballard’s King’s College London team and was published in Lancet Neurology on 9 January.
The study involved 165 Alzheimer’s patients in UK care homes who were being prescribed antipsychotics; 83 continued treatment and the remaining 82 had it withdrawn and were instead given oral placebos.
Findings showed a significant increase in risk of death for patients who continued taking antipsychotic medication. The difference between the two groups became more pronounced over time, with 24-month survival rates for antipsychotic-treated patients falling to 46% versus 71% on the placebo and at 36 months it was 30% versus 59%. It means that after three years, less than a third of people on antipsychotics were alive compared to nearly two thirds using the dummy drug.
Antipsychotics are used to treat symptoms of agitation, delusions and aggressive behaviour. UK guidelines recommend that the drugs should only be used for short periods of time and where symptoms are severe, and should be very carefully monitored, although in clinical practice the average length of prescription is 1-2 years. While there is evidence of modest short-term (6-12 weeks) benefits of antipsychotic treatment for the serious behavioural symptoms of Alzheimer’s, a previous Alzheimer’s Research Trust study showed that these benefits were not evident over longer periods of treatment.
