One in four older Americans with dementia prescribed risky brain-altering drugs despite safety warnings. Sedatives and antipsychotics linked to falls, confusion, and hospitalization remain widely used in patients most vulnerable to their harms
https://www.uclahealth.org/news/release/one-four-older-americans-with-dementia-prescribed-risky
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Despite years of clinical guidelines warning against the practice, one in four Medicare beneficiaries with dementia is prescribed brain-altering medications linked to falls, confusion, and hospitalization, according to research published January 12 in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA.
While prescriptions for these medications fell from 20% to 16% over the nine-year study period among all Medicare beneficiaries, they continue to be prescribed to individuals with cognitive impairment who are particularly susceptible to these ill effects.
“While this decline was encouraging, over two-thirds of patients receiving these prescriptions lacked a documented clinical indication in 2021, the end of the study period, suggesting high levels of potentially inappropriate and harmful prescribing,” said senior author Dr. John N. Mafi, associate professor-in-residence of medicine, division of general internal medicine and health services research, at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “Compared with patients with normal cognition, we also found higher levels of prescribing among older adults with cognitive impairment, who face a higher risk of adverse effects from these drugs. These results underscore substantial opportunities to improve the quality and safety of care for millions of older Americans.”
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2843713?guestAccessKey=af578da3-4974-4e5c-8dd9-27824278476d&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=011226
Whilst I can imagine institutions over prescribing because it’s convenient , **If** it is the case that dementia sufferers are more likely to have periods of agitation or aggression that can be dangerous to themselves of others , won’t they be more likely to be given sedatives to calm them?
This is lazy.
Almost all drugs are “brain altering”.
The social and welfare crisis, exacerbated by the Trump administration, will be the spark for a true political revolution in the US.
This is poorly done.
Many patients with dementia have BPSD and will have agitation on a regular basis. These drugs are mostly used to help calm them. They’ll also fall if theyre wandering around shouting for 4 hours every night.