Washington, D.C.- The FDA is issuing a caution that older types of certain anti psychotic medications can cause an increase of death among older senior patients that have dementia.
The Federal Food and Drug Administration has said that for senior patients that suffer from dementia that the use of older versions of anti psychotic medications causes a sharply increased risk of death.
Doctors and physicians sometimes prescribe anti psychotic drugs for the use of older patients that suffer from dementia.
The older conventional anti psychotic drugs such as prolixin and thorazine will now have a black box warning that will alert doctors to the new FDA warning.
“We are issuing letters to all the drug manufacturers of these drugs, for both atypical and conventional drugs of this class alerting them to the dangers these drugs pose for older patients with dementia,” said Dr. Thomas Laughren.
Dr. Laughren is the director for the FDA Division of Psychiatry Products at the FDA Drug Research and Evaluation Center.
Doctors have frequently used these classes of medications for patients with dementia, but for older senior patients there may be better choices, as these drugs often cause the death of patients that would otherwise not be at risk for death, according to the FDA.