Cost could also be a factor. The head of the Norwegian Association for Retirement and Nursing Medicine, said that medicating patients is cheaper than hiring caregivers to take on extra shifts. Even though antipsychotics aren’t approved for dementia patients, one third of those with dementia who spend more than 100 days in nursing homes are given the drugs, which raise their risk of mortality and cause problems like movement disorders and low blood pressure. This, in turn, prompts them to take even more drugs to correct these side effects, creating a vicious cycle of overmedication – and sizeable profits for Big Pharma.
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