Government report: Antipsychotics are overprescribed for older adults with dementia

(Image credit: Dmitrii_Guzhanin/iStock)

last updated 2 March 2015

A new report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that antipsychotic drugs are overprescribed for older men and women with dementia, and the drugs could contribute to earlier deaths.

The GAO report, published Monday, found that roughly one-third of older adults with dementia who lived in nursing homes in 2012 were prescribed antipsychotics. Fourteen percent of older adults with dementia who didn't live in nursing homes in 2012 were also prescribed antipsychotic drugs. The GAO used data from Medicare's prescription drug program to reach its conclusions.

As Time notes, the use of antipsychotic drugs may increase the risk of death for dementia patients. In the report, the GAO encouraged the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to "expand its outreach and educational efforts" toward reducing antipsychotic use among older adults and educating caregivers who work outside of nursing homes. The GAO recommended the HHS work to lower antipsychotic use in patients outside of nursing homes, as well as those who reside in them, and according to the report, HHS "concurred with this recommendation."