With a Norwegian and British study suggesting that painkillers may help bring down agitation in some dementia patients, it is possible that 'chemical cosh' antipsychotic drugs may give way to new treatments with painkillers – like paracetamol (acetaminophen in the US) – in future!

The study – which was based on the observation of nearly 350 nursing home residents suffering from moderate or severe dementia – revealed that dementia patients who had been prescribed painkiller for eight weeks showed a
17 percent fall in symptoms of agitation.

Even though it is highly unlikely that paracetamol and other painkillers act directly as sedative agents in dementia patients, the new study’s assertion that painkillers can be effective in reducing the agitation levels is largely based on the observation that the agitation is essentially a result of the pain --- the fact that pain causes agitation in some patients who are unable to explain that they are in pain.

With the experts having pointed out that 150,000 patients in the UK are given needless antipsychotics every year, the study has highlighted that the drugs have a strong sedative effect; and can not only cause dementia symptoms to worsen but can also lead to a rise in the risk of stroke and death.

With the new study - published on the BMJ website - concluding that if patient's pain was properly managed, doctors could reduce the number of prescriptions for antipsychotic drugs, Alzheimer's Society’s Prof Clive Ballard said: “Simple painkillers... had a very, very substantial impact” in reducing agitation in people with dementia!