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Clinicians, caregivers, and patients with Alzheimer disease (AD) have long sought ways to predict disease progression. These researchers examined whether drugs prescribed to patients with AD are a major factor in the rate of symptomatic progression. They examined a community sample of 224 patients who met research criteria for clinically probable AD. They measured change on the Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) from baseline to 1 year and examined correlations between this change and participants’ drug prescriptions recorded at baseline.
Prescribed drugs had both positive and negative effects on the rate of progression, defined as a 1-point or greater increase on the GDS. Patients prescribed antipsychotic drugs or sedatives had a significantl…