Dementia patients’ painkillers ‘do more harm than good’

♦ Painkillers routinely given to dementia patients can triple the chance of harmful side effects and personality changes, research suggests.

The study, involving British scientists, found that more than half of those given the drugs suffered adverse effects, with many left increasingly confused and sedated by drugs that are supposed to treat pain.

Up to 40 per cent of dementia patients living in care homes are given opioid-based painkillers, such as buprenorphine. Researchers said the use of such pills was “doing more harm than good”, and called for an urgent review.

Scientists at the University of Exeter, King’s College London and the University of Bergen tracked 162 dementia patients. Half were given the drug, half received a placebo. They found 52 per cent of those put on the opiates suffered such ill-effects that they stopped treatment.

The findings were presented at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Chicago.