Study finds drugs offer no benefits to curb aggression
January 3rd, 2008From the New York Times, BBC:
The drugs most widely used to manage aggressive outbursts in intellectually disabled people are no more effective than dummy pills for most patients and may be less so, researchers are reporting.
The finding, being published Friday in the journal Lancet, sharply challenges standard medical practice in mental health clinics and nursing homes in the United States and around the world.
In recent years many doctors have begun to use the so-called antipsychotic drugs, which were developed to treat schizophrenia, as all-purpose tranquilizers to settle threatening behavior — in children with attention-deficit problems, college students with depression, older people with Alzheimer’s disease, as well as people who are intellectually handicapped.
… The researchers focused on two drugs, Risperdal by Janssen, and an older generic drug, Haldol, but said the findings almost certainly applied to all similar medications. Such drugs account for more than $10 billion in annual sales, and research suggests that at least half of prescriptions are for unapproved “off label” uses — often aggression or irritation.
The report is sure to renew the debate over the widening use of antipsychotic drugs. Patient advocates have argued that they are overused, and recent reports say that nearly 30 percent of nursing home residents are receiving them. Medicaid spends more on antipsychotics than any other class of pharmaceuticals.
See earlier post about the broad use of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes.
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on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 11:56 pm and is filed under alzheimer's, attention deficit disorder, depression, drugs, intellectual disabilities, research news.
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