New therapies sought for dementia sufferers; music and massages

From the Wall Street Journal: Some nursing homes are now experimenting with strategies to wean patients off antipsychotics.

Use of a new generation of antipsychotic drugs to control the behavior of dementia patients has surged in recent years, despite the Food and Drug Administration’s “black box” warning labels that these drugs can increase the risk of death for elderly dementia sufferers. About 30% of nursing-home residents are on antipsychotic drugs, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, most of them on newer ones called atypical antipsychotics.

… The challenge of caring for rising numbers of seniors who suffer from dementia and the behavior problems that can stem from it has provoked a wrenching debate among nursing-home operators, regulators and families.

The story follows one earlier in the month that detailed the breadth of the problem: Prescription abuse seen in U.S. nursing homes; Powerful antipsychotics used to subdue elderly; huge Medicaid expense.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 20th, 2007 at 8:43 am and is filed under abuse, drugs, elderly, restraint. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post