Anti-psychotic drugs commonly given to Alzheimer's patients often make their condition worse, a UK study suggests.
Neuroleptics provided no benefit for patients with mild behavioural problems, but were associated with a marked deterioration in verbal skills.
The research focused on 165 people with advanced Alzheimer's who were living in nursing homes in four British cities.
Up to 60% of Alzheimer's patients in nursing homes are given the drugs to control behaviour such as aggression.
The study appears in the journal Public Library of Science Medicine.
The researchers, from Kings College London and the Universities of Oxford and Newcastle, found the drugs offered no long-term benefit for most patients with mild symptoms of disturbed behaviour.
But just six months of treatment was enough for patients to show a marked deterioration in their verbal fluency.
READ MORE @ BBC
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
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