--- title: Antipsychotics Are Frequently Prescribed to Adults with Dementia description: In a new report, federal authorities reveal that antipsychotic drugs are being over-prescribed to men and women with dementia. canonical: https://time.com/3728312/antipsychotics-dementia/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-02T16:26:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T04:50:05.785Z article:section: Health og:title: Antipsychotics Are Frequently Prescribed to Adults with Dementia og:description: In a new report, federal authorities reveal that antipsychotic drugs are being over-prescribed to men and women with dementia. og:url: https://time.com/3728312/antipsychotics-dementia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c132b76e2a5ae11/6987789935ba6f1bc6c0659f/health-pills-prescription-4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: TIME.com stock photos Health Prescription Pills og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Antipsychotics Are Frequently Prescribed to Adults with Dementia twitter:description: In a new report, federal authorities reveal that antipsychotic drugs are being over-prescribed to men and women with dementia. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c132b76e2a5ae11/6987789935ba6f1bc6c0659f/health-pills-prescription-4.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Antipsychotics Frequently Prescribed to Adults with Dementia Despite Risks > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=d29fff61-db98-4525-9d5b-5d56748e2e2f&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 2, 2015 4:26 PM UTC  Elizabeth Renstrom for TIME by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Mar 2, 2015 4:26 PM UTC Antipsychotic drugs are being over-prescribed to men and women with dementia, according to a [new report](http://www.gao.gov/products/GAO-15-211) from the federal government. The report published on Monday shows that around one third of older adults with dementia living in nursing homes had been prescribed an antipsychotic in 2012, as well as 14% of older adults with dementia who lived outside a nursing home. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) discovered the numbers when reviewing Medicare’s prescription drug program. The high number of prescriptions is a concern since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has [warned](http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/PostmarketDrugSafetyInformationforPatientsandProviders/ucm124830.htm) that antipsychotic drugs can increase the risk of death for certain people with dementia. The officials note that while the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has taken steps to address the use of antipsychotic drugs in nursing homes, it still has more outreach to do to educate people about the hazards of prescribing the drugs. The report shows that patients with dementia are often given the drugs at a hospital, possibly to treat the irritation and mood swings caused by the disorder, and then the drugs continue to be used when the patients enter a nursing home. The drugs are most often prescribed when facilities have low staff numbers. “Educational efforts similar to those provided for nursing homes should be extended to other settings,” the GAO study’s authors write. 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