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March 29th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda WEDNESDAY, March 28 (HealthDay News) — Antipsychotic drugs can
raise the risk of heart attack in older patients with dementia, a new
study suggests.
It’s common to prescribe antipsychotics to older patients with dementia
to control symptoms such as agitation, hallucinations and aggression.
Previous studies have found that this use of the drugs may be linked to an
increased risk of stroke and death from all causes.
But until now, the risk of heart attack associated with the use of
antipsychotic drugs in older people with dementia had been “poorly
examined,” wrote study author Dr. Antoine Pariente, of Universite Bordeaux
Segalen in France, and colleagues.
They looked at nearly 11,000 patients, aged 66 and older, in Quebec who
were being treated with cholinesterase inhibitors for dementia and were
also prescribed antipsychotics.
Within a year of starting treatment with the antipsychotics, 1.3
percent of the patients had a heart attack. Compared to those not taking
antipsychotics, the risk of heart attack among those taking them was 2.19
times higher for the first 30 days, 1.62 times higher for the first 60
days, 1.36 times higher for the first 90 days, and 1.15 times higher for
the first year.
“Our study results indicate that the use of [antipsychotic medications]
is associated with a modest increase in the risk of [heart attack] among
community-dwelling older patients with treated dementia,” the researchers
wrote. “The increased risk seems to be highest at the beginning of
treatment and seems to decrease thereafter, with the first month of
treatment accounting for the highest period of risk.”
The study, which found an association between antipsychotic use and
heart attack but did not prove cause-and-effect, appeared online March 26
in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
“Because [antipsychotic] use is frequent in patients with dementia …
the increased risk of [heart attack] may have a major public health
effect, which highlights the need for communicating such risk and for
close monitoring of patients during the first weeks of treatment,” the
authors concluded in a journal news release.
Further research is required to learn more about why the use of
antipsychotic drugs in dementia patients may increase the risk of heart
attack, Dr. Sudeep Gill and Dr. Dallas Seitz, of Queen’s University in
Kingston, Ontario, Canada, wrote in an accompanying editorial.
“Meanwhile, physicians should limit prescribing of antipsychotic drugs
to patients with dementia and instead use other techniques when available,
such as environmental and behavioral strategies, to keep these patients
safe and engaged,” they suggested.
While the study found an association between antipsychotic drugs and
heart attack risk, it did not prove a cause-and-effect relationship.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke has
more about dementia.
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