Added to the high risk of drug-induced metabolic syndrome, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke, sudden death…a new large study by UK statisticians and a professor of clinical epidemiology "Antipsychotic Drugs and Risk of Venous Thromboembolism: Nested Case-Control Study" published in the BMJ online, found that users of atypical antipsychotics were significantly more likely to develop dangerous potentially lethal blood clots compared to patients who did not take antipsychotics! [The article is Open Access http://www.bmj.com/content/341/bmj.c4245)
The researchers analyzed data from a nationwide medical registry in the UK that included 11 million patients treated at more than 500 general practices throughout the U.K.
Just over 25,500 people were treated for a deep vein blood clot or pulmonary embolism between 1996 and 2007.
There were 90,000 persons seen by practitioners who were not treated for blood clots during this period were who served as the controls.
The study revealed that use of antipsychotic drugs posed an increased risk of blood clot:
* Use of antipsychotics during the previous two years was associated with a 32% increased risk.
* Use of antipsychotics over the previous three months was associated with a 56% increased risk.
* Starting antipsychotic drugs within the past three months was associated with a twofold increased risk.
The combination of multiple, potentially lethal risks that these drugs pose, suggests that atypical antipsychotics are unsuitable for human consumption.
Instead of withdrawing them from the market where they are harming rather than benefiting those who ingest them, these toxic, defective drugs have become industry’s most profitable blockbuster drugs.
The marketing success has been achieved by an unholy alliance of irresponsible, publicly licensed, stakeholders: the drugs’ manufacturers, mental health providers who prescribe the drugs, and the National Alliance for Mental Illness–an industry-financed "advocacy" group.
The most culpable of all, are psychiatry’s prominent leaders in academia who promoted the irresponsible, expanded use of these life-shortening drugs–even for young children. Academic psychiatrists who sold their integrity for millions of dollars from both industry and publicly-financed grants, used their prominent status to disseminate false claims about the safety and efficacy of these drugs–misleading clinicians, trusting families, and public health officials who lent their seal of approval.
Those who claim to be "experts" in the psychopharmacology should be held accountable for promulgating lies to expand the use of drugs they knew (or should have known) to be exceedingly harmful.
"Antipsychotic Drugs and Risk of Venous Thromboembolism: Nested Case-Control Study" by Chris Parker, medical statistician, Carol Coupland, associate professor in medical statistics, Julia Hippisley-Cox, professor of clinical epidemiology and general practice. BMJ
ABSTRACT
Results:
There were 25,532 eligible cases (15,975 with deep vein thrombosis and 9557 with pulmonary embolism) and 89,491 matched controls from a study population of 7,267,673. Individuals prescribed antipsychotic drugs in the previous 24 months had a 32% greater risk of venous thromboembolism than non-users, despite adjustment for potential risk factors (odds ratio 1.32, 95% confidence interval 1.23 to 1.42). Patients who had started a new drug in the previous three months had about twice the risk (1.97, 1.66 to 2.33).
The risk was greater for individuals prescribed atypical rather than conventional drugs (adjusted odds ratio 1.73, 1.37 to 2.17, for atypical drugs; 1.28, 1.18 to 1.38, for conventional drugs).
It also tended to be greater for patients prescribed low rather than high potency drugs (1.99, 1.52 to 2.62, for low potency; 1.28, 1.18 to 1.38, for high potency). The estimated number of extra cases of venous thromboembolism per 10,000 patients treated over one year was 4 (3 to 5) in patients of all ages and 10 (7 to 13) for patients aged 65 and over.
Read the complete study report: