The Use of Antipsychotic Drugs in Patients with Dementia

Czech version

Authors: D. Protopopová ^1,2; J. Masopust ^2–4; M. Vališ ⁴; J. Hort ^5,6
Authors‘ workplace: Psychiatrické centrum Praha ¹; Národní ústav duševního zdraví, Klecany ²; Psychiatrická klinika LF UK a FN Hradec Králové ³; Neurologická klinika LF UK a FN Hradec Králové ⁴; Kognitivní centrum, Neurologická klinika 2. LF UK a FN v Motole, Praha ⁵; Mezinárodní centrum klinického výzkumu, FN u sv. Anny v Brně ⁶
Published in: Cesk Slov Neurol N 2015; 78/111(2): 158-162
Category: Review Article

Overview

Apart from cognitive decline, patients with dementia suffer a great deal from so called behavioural and psychological symptoms. These symptoms may appear in a form of anxiety, depression and insomnia as well as agitation, wandering and aggressive behaviour. Also, the presence of psychotic symptoms is not rare. These non‑cognitive symptoms of dementia occur at some stage of the illness in up to 90% of patients and, as such, they pose a great burden not only on patients themselves but also on their caregivers. Finding an effective and safe management of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia is very difficult as properly conducted studies are lacking and many available agents are associated with serious adverse effects. The article briefly summarizes current non‑pharmacological and pharmacological options for the treatment of the above described symptoms and focuses on the use of antipsychotic drugs in this indication. We present data on efficacy, adverse effects and safety of individual agents as well as practical information including drug availability and dosing strategies.

Key words:
dementia – behavioural and psychological symptoms – antipsychotics – efficacy – mortality

The authors declare they have no potential conflicts of interest concerning drugs, products, or services used in the study.

The Editorial Board declares that the manuscript met the ICMJE “uniform requirements” for biomedical papers.

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