Antipsychotics seen OK for Alzheimer's patients

By Megan Rauscher

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Contrary to some previous reports, the results of a new study indicate that people with Alzheimer's disease can be safely treated with antipsychotic drugs if need be, without precipitating a rapid decline in their mental abilities.

"Many people with Alzheimer's disease are treated with antipsychotics, often to ameliorate neuropsychiatric symptoms (and) there have been reports of greater cognitive decline with antipsychotics," explained Dr. Gill Livingston from University College London, UK.

However, Livingston's team has found "any increase in cognitive deterioration is not of the magnitude previously reported," they write in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

The investigators studied a group of 224 patients with Alzheimer's disease and saw that those who were taking any of the newer type of antipsychotic drugs were no more likely to decline mentally than those who were not taking antipsychotic medication.

"Increasing dose did not correlate with greater cognitive decline, suggesting no causative relationship between cognitive decline and antipsychotic prescription," Livingston noted.

"Though mortality was higher in those treated with antipsychotics, this reflected their greater age and dementia severity," Livingston added.

In an editorial, Dr. David Ames, of the University of Melbourne, Australia, says this study "provides limited reassurance" that the "occasional prescription" of antipsychotics to elderly people with dementia is safe.

SOURCE: Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, January 2007.