Zyprexa

Overall, the conventional group had a 37 percent greater risk of death than the atypical drug group; risk was highest right after treatment started and for those taking higher doses.

Whether people had dementia or lived in a nursing home did not alter the risk.

WHO MAY BE AFFECTED BY THESE FINDINGS?

Older people.

CAVEATS The FDA concluded that atypical antipsychotics increase the risk of death by 65 percent, compared with taking a placebo.

Based on that, the current study suggests that conventional drugs roughly double a person's risk of dying, according to the authors.

The study did not reveal causes of death, nor did it determine how or why antipsychotics affect mortality risk.

FIND THIS STUDY Dec.

1 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine; abstract available online at www.nejm.org.

LEARN MORE ABOUT antipsychotics at www.intelihealth.com (search for "antipsychotic drugs" in quotation marks) and www.nimh.nih.gov.

The research described in Quick Study comes from credible, peer-reviewed journals.

Nonetheless, conclusive evidence about a treatment's effectiveness is rarely found in a single study.

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