Widely Used Dementia Drug Raises Stroke Risk in All Patients .A large UK study involving more than 165,000 people with dementia has found that the drug risperidone increases the risk of stroke in all patients studied, undermining the idea that there is any group for whom the drug is clearly safe.
Risperidone is a strong antipsychotic that is often prescribed to people with dementia who experience severe agitation, particularly in care home settings when non-drug approaches have not worked.
The researchers found that stroke risk increased even among patients with no prior history of heart disease or stroke. This challenges existing assumptions about which patients might safely use the drug and raises concerns about how risperidone, the only licensed medication of its kind for dementia, is prescribed and monitored.
The results, published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, are expected to spark debate about current clinical practice.
Risk holds across patient profiles
One of the most notable findings was the uniformity of risk across different patient groups, said Dr. Byron Creese of Brunel University of London. “We knew Risperidone causes stroke, but we didn’t know whether some groups of people might be more at risk than others. We thought if we might identify characteristics that make people more at risk, doctors could avoid prescribing to patients with those characteristics.”
