People living with dementia in aged care facilities are being unnecessarily sedated with antipsychotic drugs for more than 200 days at a time, twice as long as the maximum time recommended, a study has found. Some were sedated for their entire stay, according to Australia’s first large longitudinal study to review nursing home’s medication records by Macquarie University’s Kimberly Lind, to be published on Wednesdayin Alzheimer’s Disease and Associated Disorders . Macquarie University’s Dr Kimberly Lind, lead author of a report published in Alzheimer’s Disease and Associated Disorders.Credit: Experts have told the Royal Commission on Aged Care Quality and Safety that antipsychotic drugs are rampantly over-prescribed, turning patients into “zombies” when they only make a difference in about 10 per cent of cases. The guidelines for managing the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia recommend antipsychotics, such as Risperidone, should only be given for a maximum of 12 weeks […]