Antipsychotic Drug Use Increases Risk Of Mortality Among Persons With Alzheimer’s Disease

Mortality rates are about 1.6 times higher among people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease who were taking antipsychotic medications compared to those with Alzheimer’s who do not take antipsychotics. Antipsychotic polypharmacy nearly tripled the risk of death compared to people taking just one antipsychotic.

These findings were reported in “Risk of Mortality Associated with Antipsychotic Monotherapy and Polypharmacy Among Community-Dwelling Persons with Alzheimer’s Disease” by Marjaana Koponen, Heidia Taipale, Piiaa Lavikainen, and colleagues. The researchers analyzed data from a nationwide register-based MEDALZ study that included all 70,718 community-dwelling individuals in Finland who were . . .