Tuesday 10/March/2026 – 01:47 AM
A large-scale British study that included more than 165,000 dementia patients revealed that the drug Risperidone, used to treat aggressive behavior in patients, may be associated with an increased risk of stroke.
A study links a popular dementia drug to an increased risk of stroke
According to what was published by The Sun website, these results raise new concern because medication is often used as a last option when behavioral or non-pharmacological treatments fail to control severe symptoms.
Risperidone is a powerful antipsychotic drug, and is commonly used in dementia patients who suffer from aggressive behavior and severe behavioral disorders. In the United Kingdom, it is the only drug officially licensed to treat these symptoms in dementia patients, but the new study indicates that its use may be associated with an increased risk of stroke even in patients who do not previously suffer from heart disease or strokes.
One of the most important results of the study is that the risk of stroke appeared to be approximately similar between different groups of patients, which means that the researchers were not able to identify a group of patients that could be considered less at risk.
The researchers said they were hoping to identify certain characteristics that might help doctors avoid prescribing the drug to some patients, but the results showed that the risk generally exists.
The study relied on an analysis of health records from the British Health Service (NHS) between 2004 and 2023.
The researchers found that among patients who had previously had a stroke, the stroke rate reached 22.2 cases per thousand people per year among users of the drug, compared to 17.7 cases among those who did not take it.
As for patients who had not previously had a stroke, the rate rose to 2.9 cases among drug users, compared to 2.2 cases among non-users. The researchers also noted that the risk of stroke was higher during relatively short periods of use of the drug.
