Antipsychotic Medications May Pose Risk Of Heart Attack For Patients With Dementia

MedPage Today (3/27) reports, "Older patients with dementia face a time-limited increased risk of heart attack if they are placed on antipsychotic medications," according to a "retrospective cohort study" published online March 26 in the Archives of Internal Medicine. The study of 37,138 seniors over the age of 65 found that "community-dwelling seniors placed on antipsychotic drugs had a significantly increased risk of heart attack in the first month after they began taking the medications, with a hazard ratio of 2.19 (95% CI 1.11 to 4.32) compared with dementia patients not taking antipsychotic medications," although "the risk gradually trailed off over the next year."

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