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Common UK sedative drugs mean earlier death risk for Alzheimer’s patients

A five-year study conducted by the Alzheimer’s Research Trust in Britain found that dementia and Alzheimer’s patients were dying an average of half a year earlier than otherwise when they were prescribed the drugs known as neuroleptics.

As a consequence, researchers said the chance of dying early was doubled when the drugs were used.

British medical experts say neuroleptics should be used only “as a last resort” on the most severely agitated or violent patients. However, the UK research indicated that the drugs were being prescribed for as many as 40% – or about 150,000 – of all Alzheimer’s patients in UK nursing homes.

“These results are deeply troubling and highlight the urgent need to develop better treatments,” said Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Research Trust. She called for the British government “to make Alzheimer’s research funding a priority”.

The lead researcher on the project, Professor Clive Ballard of King’s College in London, noted that patients with dementia were three times more likely to have a stroke if they take the drugs.

“It is very clear that even over a six-month period of treatment, there is no benefit of neuroleptics in treating the behaviour in people with Alzheimer’s disease when the symptoms are mild,” Professor Ballard said.

The study involved 165 residents with Alzheimer’s disease at more than 100 UK nursing homes who were on a neuroleptic drug. The drugs studied were risperidone, chlorpromazine, haloperidol, thioridazine and trifluoperazine.

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