Painkillers ease dementia symptoms?

While prescribing antipsychotic drugs for conditions like Alzheimer’s has been criticised in the past, new research has suggested everyday painkillers may help sufferers cope with agitation which often occurs with the disease – but what risks do these drugs really have on our health?

Researchers examined 352 elderly people with moderate or severe dementia in nursing homes in Norway, where half were given painkillers with every meal and the other half continued with their usual treatments.

After eight weeks, there was a 17% reduction in agitation symptoms in the group given painkillers, a greater improvement than would have been expected from treatment with antipsychotics.

The researchers concluded that if a patient’s pain was properly managed, doctors could reduce the number of prescriptions for antipsychotic drugs.

However, last month the Dementia Action Alliance in the UK, which is made up of nearly 50 organisations, called for a review of the use of antipsychotic drugs for people with dementia.

The alliance believed that although sometimes the use of antipsychotic drugs is the “right treatment”, in about two thirds of cases it has been deemed inappropriate.

They claimed the use of antipsychotic drugs was linked to serious side effects for people with dementia, creating mobility problems, sedation and sometimes death, particularly when used for longer than 12 weeks.

A letter was written by the Alzheimer’s Society reminding all strategic health authorities in England that reducing ‘inappropriate’ antipsychotic drug prescriptions for people with dementia was a “key priority”, and that greater use of non-drug interventions should be considered.

The theory tested by researchers in Norway and King’s College, London, is that behaviour changes in people with dementia may be triggered by pain.

Symptoms such as impaired language and thinking skills may mean the reaction to the pain comes out as aggression or agitation.

Timothy Parry, of Alzheimer’s Research UK, said the research could boost efforts to drive down prescriptions of potentially dangerous antipsychotic drugs for people with dementia.

“People with moderate to severe dementia may not be able to express any pain they might be experiencing, potentially fuelling the challenging and distressing symptoms of agitation and aggression. Pre-emptively treating pain with simple drugs could be one of the answers to helping reduce over-reliance on antipsychotics.

UK care services minister, Paul Burstow, said the study should act as a further call for GPs to carefully examine the reason why those with dementia display agitated behaviour rather than immediately resorting to antipsychotic medication.