Increased Mortality in Elderly Patients with Dementia: Elderly patients with dementia treated with atypical antipsychotic drugs are at an increased risk of death compared to placebo. Analyses of thirteen placebo-controlled trials with various atypical antipsychotics (modal duration of 10 weeks) in these patients showed a mean 1.6-fold increase in death rate in the drug-related patients. Although the causes of death were varied, most of the deaths appeared to be either cardiovascular (e.g., heart failure, sudden death) or infectious (e.g., pneumonia) in nature (see Use in the Elderly: Use in Geriatric Patients with Dementia under Precautions).
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