First of all, Alzheimer’s is a degenerative disease with no known cure. Except for affecting – obviously – the patient, it also has a string impact on the family and close friends of the patient.

 

Because the disease is starting to affect more and more people and because it is not a new condition, researchers are feeling more and more pressure to find a successful treatment, a cure and establish the cause in order to offer preventive solutions to avoid developing Alzheimer’s disease.

 

British researchers have been conducting a study meant to assess the risks and benefits of a course of treatment involving antipsychotics. According to their study, if patients with Alzheimer’s are given antipsychotics for a short-term use, there are indeed benefits to be seen. However, it was also observed that if patients are given a treatment with antipsychotics for a longer period of time, they risk developing severe side effects. Among these are Parkinson-like symptoms, sedation, chest infections, decline in brain function, stroke and even death.

 

Dementia expert Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, chief of the biological psychiatry division at Duke University, said that “It's an eye-opening study since it was one of the few non-company sponsored studies to look at long-term risks. Antipsychotics are not and never were indicated for use in people with dementia. But millions of elderly people were put on antipsychotics in nursing homes, often with little or no evidence to support such use.”