Antipsychotic medication is widely used to treat behavioural problems in people with learning disabilities. A Cochrane review of the use of these medications for this purpose found very few randomised controlled trials (a method of clinical research in which people are allocated at random to receive a clinical intervention, a placebo, or no intervention at [read the full story…]
Many people with schizophrenia struggle to adhere to their oral antipsychotic drug regimen. It is thought that depot antipsychotic drugs (a special preparation of the medication, which is given by injection and is slowly released into the body over a number of weeks) may reduce relapse rates by improving adherence. This systematic review searched for randomised controlled [read the full story…]
Anti-psychotic medications comprise between 30–50% of all psychotropics prescribed for people with learning disabilities as reported in this WELD post: This study set out to explore metabolic syndrome (a group of risk factors that occur together and increase the risk for coronary artery disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes in people with learning disabilities who [read the full story…]
Many published guidelines (including the American Psychiatric Association Clinical Practice Guidelines for schizophrenia), recommend second-generation antipsychotics for the treatment of depression in schizophrenia. This study compared a first-generation antipsychotic (perphenazine) with 4 second-generation antipsychotics (olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, and ziprasidone) and the impact these drugs had on the symptoms of depression. The authors used data from the Clinical [read the full story…]
This care recommendation produced by Drew H. Barzman (Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center) sets out to answer the following question: Among children with ADHD and aggression, is the pharmacological treatment of ADHD, versus no pharmacological treatment of ADHD, effective in reducing aggressive behaviour? The authors searched Medline, PsychInfo, the National Guidelines [read the full story…]
Valproate is widely used as a mood stabiliser for people with bipolar disorder, despite the fact that there is very little evidence that shows the effectiveness of this treatment. This observational cohort study looked at over 4,000 bipolar patients in Denmark who were treated with lithium or valproate from 1995 to 2006. The results favoured [read the full story…]
This cohort study conducted by the Intensive Medicines Monitoring Programme (IMMP) in New Zealand, set out to determine more accurately the rates of nocturnal enuresis in patients on clozapine and other atypical antipsychotics (olanzapine, quetiapine and risperidone). Prescription data for clozapine, olanzapine, risperidone and quetiapine were returned from pharmacies throughout New Zealand directly to the [read the full story…]
People with schizophrenia are sometimes prescribed multiple antipsychotic drugs, even though clinical guidelines rarely recommend this course of action. This cross-sectional observational study from Denmark explored the reasons behind this prescribing practice in two treatment centres; one that had high rates of antipsychotic polypharmacy and the other that had low rates. The researchers sent a [read the full story…]
The Dementia Action Alliance has launched a call to action on the use of antipsychotic drugs for people with dementia: All people with dementia who are receiving antipsychotic drugs should receive a clinical review from their doctor to ensure that their care is compliant with current best practice and guidelines and that alternatives to medication have been [read the full story…]
New generation anti-psychotic medications are being used to treat aggressive behaviours in people with learning disabilities, whether or not individuals have a formal diagnosis of a mental health problem. This study set out to evaluate the effectiveness of two such new generation anti-psychotic medications, olanzapine and risperidone. The study looked at how effective these [read the full story…]
