Adverse Events Risks Similar in Typical, Atypical Antipsychotics

HealthDay News —The risks of adverse events are similar with short-term use of typical and atypical antipsychotic medications (APMs) after cardiac surgery in seniors, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Dae H. Kim, MD, MPH, ScD, from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study involving individuals (mean age, 70 years) undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting or valve surgery (3706 patients). Participants were either newly treated with oral atypical (2580 patients) or typical (1126 patients) APMs.

The researchers found that the median treatment duration was three and two days, respectively, for atypical and typical APMs, in the propensity score-matched cohort. No large differences were seen for atypical versus typical cohorts in in-hospital mortality (5.4 versus 5.3%; risk difference [RD], 0.1%; 95% confidence interval [CI], −2.1 to 2.3%), arrhythmia (2.0 versus 2.2 %; RD, 0.0%; 95% CI, −1.4 to 1.4 %), pneumonia (16.1 versus 14.5%; RD, 1.6%; 95% CI, −1.9 to 5.0%), and length of stay (9.9 versus 9.3 days, mean difference, 0.5 days; 95% CI, −1.2 to 2.2). Compared with typical APMs, use of brain imaging was more common after initiating atypical APMs (17.3 versus 12.4%; RD, 4.9%; 95% CI, 1.4 to 8.4).

“More research in a larger sample of individuals undergoing different surgeries is needed to confirm these findings,” the authors write.

Two authors disclosed ties to the nonprofit educational organization Alosa Foundation; two authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

Reference

Kim DH1,2, Huybrechts KF, Patorno E, et al. Adverse Events Associated with Antipsychotic Use in Hospitalized Older Adults After Cardiac Surgery. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2017; doi: 10.1111/jgs.14768. [Epub ahead of print]