Should We Fear Antipsychotics in Parkinson Disease Patients?

A study associating antipsychotic drug use with increased mortality rate in PD patients needs to be interpreted in context.

Antipsychotic drug use in the general population has been linked to increased mortality. To examine this association in patients with Parkinson disease (PD), researchers conducted a retrospective, matched-cohort study using a Veterans Health Administration database They compared 180-day mortality in 7877 patients who did and 7877 who did not initiate antipsychotic drug therapy, and examined mortality rates by Cox proportional hazards regression models.

Overall, use of an antipsychotic in PD was associated with more than double the risk for death compared with nonuse (intention-to-treat hazard ratio, 2.35; 95% confidence interval, 2.08–2.66; P<0.001). The risk was significantly higher for the use of typical antipsychotics than for atypical-an…

Reviewing Author

Michael S. Okun, MD

Disclosures

Consultant/Advisory BoardParkinson’s Foundation; Tourette Association of America

Speaker’s BureauMedscape/WebMD CME, Movement Disorders Society CME, American Academy of Neurology CME

RoyaltiesBooks4Patients; Demos; Cambridge; Taylor and Francis; Robert Rose; Public Affairs

Grant/Research SupportNational Institutes of Health; Parkinson’s Foundation; Tourette Association of America; University of Florida Foundation

Editorial BoardsTremor and Other Hyperkinetic Movements; JAMA Neurology

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesParkinson’s Foundation (Medical Advisor)