Tending to elderly patients with mid- or late-stage dementia can be a thankless task for caregivers, who are often met with fear and agitation. It’s understandable, then, how the off-label prescription of anti-psychotic medication became a frequently used last-resort treatment for some of the more difficult behavioral symptoms of diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

A new study however, suggests these drugs, which can produce harmful side effects, may be used more often than is merited. Of older adults in New York living outside of nursing homes with dementia symptoms, 17.2% are prescribed at least one anti-psychotic medication, more than twice the rate of patients without dementia.

The problem remains, however, that caregivers have few good options beyond such drugs for patients who are be a danger to themselves or others.

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