Dementia

Federal prosecutors have rejected as insufficient the $1 billion settlement reached two months ago between Johnson & Johnson and prosecutors in Philadelphia to resolve...

-University of Kentucky's Elizabeth Head discusses her research into learning in elderly beagles who, unlike mice and rats, can seemingly develop dementia like humans.

The International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry published an article titled Safety and utility of acute electroconvulsive therapy for agitation and aggression in dementia,  which concludes "Electroconvulsive therapy may be a safe treatment option to reduce symptoms of agitation and aggression in patients with dementia whose behaviors are refractory to medication management." But the participants were not a random selection of people taking the drugs in question. Rather, they were individuals selected because of aggressive behavior, most of whom had been taking some or all of these drugs on admission. So it is a distinct possibility that the aggression was a drug effect for many, or even most, of the study participants.

Study finds antidepressant use is linked to increase in hip fractures in community-dwelling older adults with and without Alzheimer’s disease.

University of Groningen researchers analyzed only small, short-term clinical trials of generally poor quality to determine that antipsychotics are not linked to increased risk of death in elderly people with dementia.

Sharon Begley for the STAT examines new research which raises “doubts about conventional approaches to diagnosing and finding treatments for Alzheimer’s.” Article →

From The Telegraph: A major new study has found a strong association between long-term exposure to antidepressants and risk of dementia. "Researchers warned there may be...

Researchers at the University of Milan and King's College, London thoroughly reviewed the literature available on Medline and Cochrane regarding the use of benzodiazepines...

Arkansas' lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson for false and misleading claims regarding Risperdal is set to begin today, the fourth time J&J has a...

NPR Shots explores a nursing home where "residents can always find something to do," and where use of antipsychotic drugs has dropped dramatically. This Nursing...

A plan from the British government to pay doctors for every diagnosis of dementia that they make is an act of "folly," writes physician...

As part of a series on the inappropriate use of antipsychotics in nursing homes, the Boston Globe explores alternative approaches, such as llama therapy,...

From The Guardian: According to a new Human Rights Watch report, U.S. nursing homes are inappropriately prescribing antipsychotics to an estimated 179,000 residents with dementia each...

Australian researchers look at the literature on the effect of psychotropics on falls in the elderly; largest effect of any randomized trial was achieved...

Therapists can use music to meet the emotional and social needs of individuals with dementia.

An Office of the Inspector General report says that nearly nine out of 10 prescriptions for antipsychotics given to Medicare beneficiaries are for unapproved uses....

The AARP has joined an "unprecedented class-action lawsuit" against a California nursing home accused of using antipsychotics without informed consent from residents or family...

English health minister Paul Burstow is seeking to outlaw the 'silent scandal' of inappropriate antipsychotics for dementia by proposing legislation that imposes up to...

From AARP: The family of Bobby Glenn Tweed recently settled a lawsuit with a nursing home over his wrongful death. Tweed was prescribed psychotropic drugs without...

Greater cumulative doses of drugs that are anticholinergic or block the neurotransmitter acetylcholine are associated with significant increases in dementia and Alzheimer's.

In a review and meta-analysis of double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomly-assigned trials of antidepressants marketed in the U.S., researchers at the University of California failed to...

A retrospective study of 13,535 long-term Kaiser Permanente members found that depressive symptoms in mid-life (1964-1973 for this cohort) were associated with a 20%...

From Next Avenue: The drug Nuedexta has only been approved for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). However, the maker of...

Is a lack of social connection in the US harmful to health? In a review of social connection and health literature, researcher calls for a societal shift in values towards interdependence.

A meta-analysis of studies found that the risk of dementia increased 22% for every additional twenty daily doses of benzodiazepine medications annually.