Older antipsychotic drugs may be at least as risky as newer ones for seniors

Older antipsychotic drugs may be at least as risky for elderly dementia patients as newer medications, a study says.
The authors of the study suggest until further evidence is available, doctors should proceed with caution when prescribing either type of antipsychotic drug to elderly patients.
The work, by researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of British Columbia, backs up a previous study the same group published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine. The new study was published in this week's Canadian Medical Association Journal.
In mid-2005, health regulators in Canada and the United States warned that second generation antipsychotic drugs - called atypical antipsychotics - seemed to raise the risk of death when taken by seniors suffering from dementia. Studies had shown that elderly patients newly prescribed these drugs had a 1.6 greater death rate than patients taking a placebo.
Drugs included in these studies were risperidone (Risperdal), quetiapine (Seroquel) and olanzapine (Zyprexa). A fourth in this class, clozapine (Clozaril), was not studied. But because it is in the same family, Health Canada included it in its warning about the potential risks of atypical antipsychotics.

http://www.topix.net/content/cp/3233266442421641731403027975071041850630