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Some Alzheimer's drugs linked to increased risk of death

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Some Alzheimer's drugs linked to increased risk of death 10.19.2005, 09:50 AM

WASHINGTON (AFX) - Some drugs commonly prescribed to treat symptoms of the degenerative mental condition Alzheimer's, such as aggression, could be linked to an increased risk of death, researchers said.

A team led by Lon Schneider, a psychiatrist from the University of Southern California, analysed the results of 15 trials, each lasting 10-12 weeks, with more than 5,000 elderly patients afflicted by Alzheimer's.

The drugs tested were Johnson & Johnson's Risperidone, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co's Aripiprazole, Eli Lilly & Co's Olanzapine and Quetiapine (an ingredient in AstraZeneca PLC's Seroquel).

Patients who took one of these drugs were found to have 54 pct greater risk of death in the first three months of treatment than patients who were administered placebos, the researchers said in today's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

There were 118 deaths among 3,353 patients (3.5 pct) who took one of the listed antipsychotics, compared to 40 deaths among the 1,757 patients (2.3 pct) who were administered a placebo. The risks were the same for each of the drugs.

'We do not believe the findings contraindicate the use of antipsychotics for patients with dementia who have psychotic symptoms and agitation,' Peter Rubins, professor of psychiatry at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in Baltimore, Maryland, said in an editorial in the Journal.

The findings 'change the risk-benefit analysis such that antipsychotics should be used only when the patient's symptoms present an identifiable risk to the patient or to others ... or when alternative therapies have failed,' Rubins added.

The Food and Drug Administration issued a warning in April linking the antipsychotic drugs to cardiac arrest among some elederly patients suffering from dementia.

The FDA ordered drug makers to include a warning of the risks in the label on their products.