Antipsychotics raise dementia stroke risk

摘要

Patients with dementia are more at risk of stroke when given antipsychotic drugs than are those without dementia, a study published online in the BMJ (28 August) has shown. Researchers identified 6,790 patients from the UK general practice research database who had suffered a stroke and had been prescribed at least one antipsychotic drug between January 1988 and the end of 2002.The number of strokes suffered by the patients when exposed to antipsychotics was then compared with strokes during unexposed periods.