Dementia Patients Dying Early on Sedatives: Study
(London, Reuters Health 03/30/07)

In a study funded by the Alzheimer's Research Trust, Professor Clive Ballard of King's College London and Professor Robin Jacoby of Oxford University, tracked 165 Alzheimer's patients over a period of five years. The investigators found that patients prescribed anti-psychotic drugs, including Risperdal, tended to experience cognitive and verbal deterioration and died an average of six months sooner than those given a placebo. The scientists speculate that these medications may promote “adverse cerebrovascular events, such as mini-strokes.”