New Brunswick, NJ - Rutgers will take the lead in a three-year study that will investigate the effectiveness of federal and state initiatives to address overprescribing of antipsychotic medications for dementia patients in nursing homes. According to Beth Salamon of MedWxpress, "Stephen Crystal, Board of Governors professor and associate director for Health Services Research at Rutgers' Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, is the principal investigator for the study, "Improving Medication Safety in Nursing Home Dementia Care." Crystal will work with regulators, patient advocates and other groups to track the progress of medication safety in each state."
"The project's goal is to identify strategies to reduce the number of dementia patientsin nursing homes who are receiving antipsychotic medications."
"Family members may not realize the kinds of medications their loved ones are receiving. Antipsychotic medications have a sedating effect that leads to inactivity and falls, and they have many serious risks," says Crystal, a professor at the Rutgers School of Social Work. The overuse of antipsychotics in the elderly also can lead to physical inactivity, more time in bed and pneumonia due to inactivity.
Antipsychotic medications, approved to treat serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, carry an FDA Black Box warning reserved for prescription drugs that pose significant risk of serious or life-threatening adverse effects. Antipsychotics are particularly dangerous for elderly patients with dementia and have been found to cause an increased risk of death among nursing home residents.
For the full story: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-04-overuse-antipsychotic-drugs-dementia-patients.html
"Family members may not realize the kinds of medications their loved ones are receiving. Antipsychotic medications have a sedating effect that leads to inactivity and falls, and they have many serious risks," says Crystal, a professor at the Rutgers School of Social Work. The overuse of antipsychotics in the elderly also can lead to physical inactivity, more time in bed and pneumonia due to inactivity.
Antipsychotic medications, approved to treat serious mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, carry an FDA Black Box warning reserved for prescription drugs that pose significant risk of serious or life-threatening adverse effects. Antipsychotics are particularly dangerous for elderly patients with dementia and have been found to cause an increased risk of death among nursing home residents.
For the full story: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-04-overuse-antipsychotic-drugs-dementia-patients.html
