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Antidepressive drugs reduce the mortality rate of schizophrenicpatients, while treatment with bensodiazepines greatly increasesit, especially as regards suicide. Giving several antipsychoticssimultaneously, however, seems to have no effect at all. Thisaccording to a new study examining different drug combinationsadministered to patients with schizophrenia . "We weren't aware that the beneficial effects of antidepressiveswere so powerful," says Jari Tiihonen, professor of clinicalpsychiatry at Karolinska Institutets Department of ClinicalNeuroscience. The study followed 2,588 Finns who had recently developedschizophrenia from the time of their initial admission to hospitalfor an average of four years. By accessing the Finnish registers,the researchers were then able to ascertain the effects ofdifferent drug combinations on the mortality risk within the group. A total of 160 people died in the study, most commonly fromexternal causes such as drowning, poisoning or violent crime,something that affected 57 people. Thirty-five of these cases weresuicide, which made it and cardiovascular disease the two maincauses of death. The researchers found that when taking bensodiazepines, theparticipants ran a 91 per cent higher risk of early death than attimes when these drugs were not used. By far the most common causeof death was suicide, and most deaths occurred with patients whohad been taking their bensodiazepines for longer than four weeks. "The increased suicide risk for patients with long-standingbenzodiazepine use may be partly attributable to the possibledevelopment of withdrawal symptoms when the drugs run out," saysProfessor Tiihonen. "These symptoms, which can be severe severe anxiety and insomnia , might have affected some of the patients' decisions to commitsuicide. It's therefore extremely important that bensodiazepinesare discontinued gradually rather than abruptly over a period ofweeks or months and in consultation with a doctor." "The temporary acute use of benzodiazepines is justifiable if thepatient is suffering a great deal of anxiety," he continues. "Butbenzodiazepines should be discontinued within a month according topsychiatric recommendations, which doctors must start following andrespecting." During the periods the participants took antidepressive drugs, theyran a 43 per cent lower mortality risk than during the periods whenthese drugs were not used. The decrease in suicide risk was 85percent, a result that also was statistically significan.Antipsychotics had no effect on mortality if the patients were onmultiple prescriptions simultaneously. "People think that it's dangerous to treat patients withschizophrenia with more than one antipsychotic drug, but there isnothing to back that up, says Professor Tiihonen. "I believe thatmost doctors prescribe several antipsychotics if their patients arenot helped by just one kind, and our study finds no link betweenthis and increased mortality during a four year follow-up. But itdoes mean more adverse effects, such as the risk of weight-gain,which also impacts the health in the long run, so the recommendedattitude is still one of restraint." Additional References Citations. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Neon Rope Light , China Decorative String Lights for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits 5050 Strip Light.
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