A landmark study, investigating the Efficacy of Oral Risperidone, Haloperidol, or Placebo for Symptoms of Delirium Among Patents in Palliative Care - A Randomised Clinical Trial led by Professor Meera Agar from the Centre for Cardiovascular and Chronic Care, and including Senior Professor Eckermann from AHSRI, was published on 6 December 2016 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA). This large trial finds that strong drugs used to treat palliative care patients with a common condition called delirium may not work and might even hasten death.
Media releases:
- ABC Health Report - presented by Dr Norman Swan: Harmful Drug Treatment for Delirium
- ABC News: Drugs commonly used to treat delirium unhelpful, may hasten death in patients, study finds
- Australian Doctor: Call to stop using antipsychotics for delirium
- The Conversation: Drugs for delirium don't work, and may in fact harm
- Helio: Antipsychotics worsen delirium symptoms