Dementia sufferers face drug risk

Commonly-prescribed painkillers can triple the harmful side-effects in people with dementia, new research suggests.

Scientists found a significant rise in side-effects such as personality changes, confusion and sedation.

Around half of people with dementia who are living in care homes experience clinically significant pain.

Previous research found pain is often under-diagnosed and poorly managed in people with dementia, impacting on quality of life. After paracetamol, opioid-based painkillers are often the next line of treatment for clinicians in people with dementia. They are prescribed to up to 40% of people with dementia living in care homes.

They ease pain effectively but prescribing guidance does not take into account the fact people with dementia get effective pain relief from smaller doses than commonly prescribed.

Scientists at Exeter University, King’s College London and Bergen University are now calling for studies to examine appropriate dosing of painkillers such as buprenorphine for people with dementia.

Their study examined 162 people from 47 Norwegian care homes who had advanced dementia and significant depression. In those who were assigned buprenorphine as part of their treatment pathway, harmful side-effects more than tripled.