What is the future for antipsychotic drugs in dementia treatment?

Written by Pietro Gareri, Pasquale De Fazio, Alberto Castagna, Amalia Cecilia Bruni, Giovambattista De Sarro
Neurodegeneration and degenerative disease Opinion
A highly detailed 3D rendering of a double helix human DNA in blue color, with small carbon elements and light effects on a dark gray-blue background. The image shows an angle of view of different

Antipsychotic drugs are regularly prescribed as first-line treatment of behavioral and psychological symptoms in dementia although guidelines recommend non-pharmacological interventions as first approach. Despite these recommendations, it is unlikely that elderly demented patients with behavioral disorders may be treated by non-pharmacological treatment alone, especially when severe aggression and both diurnal and night psychomotor agitation are present. A wide variety of conventional (haloperidol, promazine) and atypical antipsychotic drugs (risperidone, olanzapine, quetiapine, aripiprazole, ziprasidone and clozapine) are widely used in the management of neuropsychiatric symptoms that are commonly seen in dementia, but results from randomized controlled trials on the efficacy and safety...

To view this content, please register now for access

It's completely free