High-risk drug use linked to higher death risk in dementia
Two groups with high-risk psychiatric medicine use had adjusted hazard ratios for death of 1.27 and 1.35 versus the reference group over 12 months.
Our read
Populations- Studied:
- Cohort study of 165,655 older Australians with dementia, against unspecified reference group
- What changed:
- Death risk was higher with high-risk psychiatric medicines and low service use versus the reference group (adjusted hazard ratio 1.35)
- The catch:
- Dementia severity and other illnesses could explain higher mortality among high-risk medicine users
- Why it’s aging research:
- It measures an outcome that worsens with age.
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Australians aged 65 or older with dementia—165,655 people—were included in a national observational cohort study using linked census, health service, prescription and death records. Researchers identified five groups based on health service use and psychiatric medicines, which affect mood, thinking or behavior.
Over 12 months, both groups marked by high-risk psychiatric medicine use were associated with higher mortality. One had high use of chronic disease management services; its adjusted hazard ratio, a measure of relative death risk during follow-up, was 1.27. The other had low service use and a ratio of 1.35. A group with moderate-risk psychiatric medicine use and high mental health service use had lower mortality, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 0.84.
Why it matters
People with dementia often have several health conditions and take multiple medicines, making the relationship between patterns of care and survival an important question in older age.
Caveats
People using high-risk psychiatric medicines may have had more severe dementia or other illnesses that also affected mortality. The abstract does not identify the reference group for the hazard ratios.
- Mental health service use
- High-risk psychotropic and high chronic disease management use
- High-risk psychotropic and low service use
- Low-risk psychotropic and high chronic disease management use
- Dementia
- Humans
The paper
Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, Sep 22, 2026, Open access
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