Drugs Prescribed for Alzheimer's Disease Increase Mental
Decline and Deaths
by Sherry Baker
January 16, 2009
(NaturalNews) When people diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (AD) " act up" and
show signs of neuropsychiatric symptoms such as aggression and agitation, they
are often given antipsychotic drugs. Now, it turns out, that's a practice that
could be deadly. The result of a long-term study , just published online and in
the February edition of The Lancet Neurology journal shows there's a
large increased risk of severe side effects and death in patients receiving
these medications. What's more, they hasten mental deterioration.
Dr. Clive Ballard of the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases at King's
College in London and her colleagues are the first researchers to document
long-term data for AD patients given
antipsychotic
drugs. They followed 165 patients with AD between the ages of 67 and 100 who
resided in four United Kingdom facilities between 2001 and 2004. The research
subjects were randomly assigned to take antipsychotic
medications (thioridazine,
chlorpromazine, haloperidol, trifluorperazine, or risperidone) or an oral
placebo.
After a year, there was 70% survival in the antipsychotic group compared with
77% in placebo. But after two years, there was a far bigger difference in the
death rate. Survival
was 46% in the antipsychotic group and 71% in the placebo group. And at three
years, the difference was even more stunning. Only 30% of people being given
antipsychotics were
still alive while almost 60 percent of those on placebos, inert substances with
no drug activity, were still living. When the scientists computed the death rate
for the AD patients throughout all the years, they found it was 42% lower in the
placebo group than in the antipsychotic group.
So what adverse effects did the drugs have on the people with
Alzheimer's?
Specifically, they were found to increase the incidence of Parkinson's
disease, sedation, edema,
chest infections, stroke and death . Those taking antipsychotics also
experienced an accelerated decline in their brain function. In a statement
released to the media, the scientists said their research highlights the need to
seek less harmful treatments for AD patients who exhibit neuropsychiatric
symptoms.
"Our data add further serious safety concerns about the long-term use of
antipsychotics in this population, and clinicians should certainly try to
replace antipsychotics with safer management approaches. Several studies have
shown that psychological management can replace antipsychotic therapy without
any appreciable worsening of neuropsychiatric symptoms... Our opinion is that
there is still an important but limited place for atypical antipsychotics in the
treatment of severe neuropsychiatric manifestations, particularly aggression, of
AD. However, the accumulating safety concerns, including the substantial
increase in long-term mortality, emphasize the urgent need to put an end to
unnecessary and prolonged prescribing," the researchers stated.
