Increased Risk of Strokes with Antipsychotic Drugs

A recent study published in the British Medical Journal stated that all types of antipsychotics increase the risk of strokes in all patients, not just dementia patients, as previously thought. Patients without dementia taking any sort of antipsychotic had a 40% increase in risk.

The latest findings, from researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, identified 6,700 patients from a GP database, all with an average age of 80, and concluded that there was more than a tripling of risk for dementia patients taking any sort of anti-psychotic drug.

However, the NHS wrote off these findings claiming that the study was only carried out on people who actually had a stroke, rather than the general population.

Read more at https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7586627.stm  

Read the NHS' respone at https://www.nhs.uk/news/2008/08August/Pages/Antipsychoticsandstrokerisk.aspx