Al Bilad newspaper Side effects of medications used to treat Alzheimer’s raise controversy – 2024-04-20 12:08:35

A study published Thursday revealed the presence of severe side effects associated with the use of antipsychotic medications to calm symptoms of dementia such as Alzheimer’s disease, which created controversy regarding these drugs.

The study published in the British Medical Journal (BMG) reported that “the use of antipsychotics in adults with dementia is associated with an increased risk of stroke, venous thromboembolism, myocardial infarction, heart failure, fractures, pneumonia, and acute renal failure.”

Medications such as risperidone, haloperidol, quetiapine, and olanzapine are commonly used to treat mental disorders such as schizophrenia, as well as sometimes against depression resistant to other medications.

But it is sometimes given to patients suffering from dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, not to treat these diseases, which are often incurable, but to calm certain symptoms such as aggressive behavior.

The use of these drugs raises great controversy due to the dangerous side effects they may cause and their limited effectiveness.

In the United Kingdom, where the BMG study was conducted, only risperidone and haloperidol are permitted to be used to treat dementia.

The study showed greater risks for antipsychotics used to treat dementia than previous studies, including pneumonia, for example.

However, the study, which was based on a retrospective examination of data from the British healthcare system, does not confirm the existence of a direct relationship between cause and effect, as it is possible that pneumonia, in some cases, may have contributed to the appearance of dementia, and thus to the prescription of its treatment, and not the other way around. .

On the other hand, a number of neurologists and geriatricians praised the seriousness of the methodology and the important nature of this study, at a time when antipsychotics have been prescribed again since the Covid crisis.