The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of US had warned the public and medical professionals against use of certain drugs broadly called as atypical antipsychotic drugs on elderly patients with dementia.
The drugs, aripiprazole, olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, clozapine and ziprasidone, are approved for the clinical treatment of schizophrenia and mania. Use of these drugs to treat elderly patients with dementia and behavior disorders have resulted in a very high incidence of deaths. Studies conducted had showed that the drugs are as much as 1.6 times riskier than that of any other drugs. These drugs which again can be divided into three classes based on their composition, are all equally have a high risk of death due to cardiac problems associated with them when used on geriatric patients.FDA has requested that the manufacturers of these drugs do change the label of these medications to include the warning against use of them in geriatric patients with dementia. The warning must be boxed to catch the maximum attention and must say that they are not approved for treating the behavioral disorders associated with dementia. The organization had also requested the physicians prescribing these drugs for behavioral problems in elderly to review the situation.
Reference: : Food and Drug Administration, US, news release
