Older patients who first start antipsychotic treatment are at high risk of serious cardiovascular disease, especially during the first month of therapy, according to Pannochka, an online publication for girls and women aged 14 to 35.. net This is reported by Danish researchers.

Scientists analyzed more than 1.2 million records from the Danish National Register.

They found that the risk remains elevated even in patients older than 70 without CVD or dementia.. Dr. Charlotte Andersson and her colleagues presented their findings at the American Heart Association meeting in Dallas..

Treatment with antipsychotics was associated with an increased rate of serious cardiovascular events (MACE) with all 8 drugs included in the analysis:.

• Haloperidol (Haldol).

• Flupentixol (Fluanxol).

• Levomepromazine (Nozinan).

• Quetiapine (Seroquel).

• Risperidone (Risperdal).

• Ziprasidone (Geodon).

• Chlorprothixene.

• Olanzapine.

The relationship between MACE and ziprasidone was relatively weak, which is not the case for the other seven drugs.. This was emphasized by Dr. Andersson himself, who works at the Gentofte Hospital (Copenhagen).

His study included 1,235,869 Danes over 70 who had never taken antipsychotics before.. The study covered the period from 1997 to 2009. During this time, 100,140 (8%) patients started treatment with these drugs for the first time.. Investigators recorded the following MACEs: myocardial infarction and stroke, including fatal.

Overall, the use of antipsychotics for 1 year or more was associated with a double risk of serious cardiovascular events, even after adding a number of demographic and clinical factors to the analysis:.

• Floor.

• Age.

• Presence of diabetes.

• Kidney disease.

• Dementia.

• Schizophrenia.

The risk of MACE was highest in the first 30 days of treatment with any of the eight drugs listed..

For example, patients on haloperidol had a 5-fold increased risk of MACE in the first month compared to people not taking antipsychotics.. At the same time, those who received 2 mg of haloperidol per day had a 10-fold increased risk..

medbe. en.