LONDON, Jan. 9 (UPI) -- A British research team says anti-psychotic drugs commonly given to Alzheimer's patients may double the risk of early death.
The study, led by Clive Ballard of King's College London, involved 165 Alzheimer's patients who were being prescribed anti-psychotics. Half of the group continued treatment and the other half were given oral placebos. Researchers saw a significant increase in risk of death for patients who continued taking anti-psychotic medication. After three years, less than a third of people on anti-psychotics were alive compared to nearly two thirds using the placebo, Britain's Alzheimer's Research Trust said Thursday in a release.
"While there is evidence of modest short-term (6-12 weeks) benefits of anti-psychotic treatment for the serious behavioral symptoms of Alzheimer's, a previous Alzheimer's Research Trust study showed that these benefits were not evident over longer periods of treatment," the group said in a statement.
Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the trust, findings published in the journal Lancet Neurology, are a "wake-up call."
"We must avoid the use of these drugs as a potentially dangerous 'chemical cosh' to patients who would be better off without it," she said.
