Heart Risk May Increase With New Anti-Psychotic Drugs

On Thursday it was revealed in the issue of New England Journal of Medicine that new anti-psychotic drugs are similarly dangerous for heart as the older ones.

Tennessee Medicaid’s 15 years records were used to conclude the research. A number of 44,000 patients were taken using the older medicines, and 46,000 patients using the new medicines. The new drugs included drugs like Risperdal, made by New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson Inc., and Zyprexa, made by Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly & Co. The old drugs used included haloperidol and type.

Records of 186,600 other peoples were also used for comparative studies. These people were having similar characteristics as the patients but were not on anti-psychotic drugs.

The study results clearly showed that the patients on anti-psychotic drugs had a higher risk of heart cardiac deaths. Risk rate was equal in patients of both classes, using new and old anti-psychotics. Concluded risk was 3 deaths per annum among 1000 patients.

Wayne Ray, a study author, Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. said, “To me, three per thousand is frequent enough (that) I would take it into account for a family member or friend.” He further said for anti-psychotics that one should take them as “a very last resort, to be used sparingly,

Dr. Sebastian Schneeweiss and Dr. Jerry Avorn of Harvard Medical School also said commenting on the study result that it “makes a clear case”. One should not use anti-psychotics unless there is any other solution available.