Study questions stroke link to atypical antipsychotics
Older patients with dementia who receive atypical antipsychotics to treat their behavioural and psychological symptoms appear to have a similar risk of ischaemic stroke as those receiving typical antipsychotics.
The finding calls into question advice issued by the Committee on Safety
of Medicines last year, which stated that risperidone (Risperdal) and
olanzapine (Zyprexa) should not
be used to treat patients with dementia
(PJ, 13 March 2004, p307).
The new study involved a comparison of hospital admissions for stroke
among 32,710 elderly adults with dementia receiving atypical or typical
antipsychotics in Ontario. The researchers found a higher incidence of
stroke among patients with established risk factors for stroke but there
was no significant difference between patients receiving atypical and
typical antipsychotics (adjusted hazard ratio 1.01, 95 per cent confidence
interval 0.81–1.26).
Earlier trials have shown a link between use of risperidone and olanzapine
and cerebrovascular events but the researchers say that a clear biological
rationale for this has not been identified (BMJ 2005;330:445). A spokeswoman
for the CSM told The Journal that the research would be considered carefully. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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