Drug effects on Alzheimer’s patients the focus of new study
These findings from more than 400 elderly patients who participated in the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness—Alzheimer’s Disease (CATIE-AD) will be reported April 15 at AJP in Advance, the online advance edition of The American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP), the official journal of the American Psychiatric Association.
The antipsychotic drugs include olanzapine and quetiapine, which were associated with significant weight gain. Additionally, patients taking olanzapine had increases in waist circumference and decreases in high-density lipoprotein (“good”) cholesterol. The likelihood of significant weight gain increased the longer the patients received antipsychotic treatment. Surprisingly, the weight gain reported occurred in women but not men. Risperidone was not associated with adverse metabolic changes.
“These findings are especially troubling because antipsychotics are associated with a higher risk of death and cerebrovascular adverse events in patients with dementia,” stated Lon S. Schneider, M.D., professor of psychiatry, neurology, and gerontology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and principal investigator of the CATIE-AD study. “They’re often used to minimize disruptive symptoms, but patients should be monitored closely.”
The AJP study, “Metabolic Changes Associated With Second-Generation Antipsychotic Use in Alzheimer’s Disease Patients,” is the second CATIE-AD study to be published in the Journal. The first examined phase 1 outcomes for atypical antipsychotic treatment of psychiatric and behavioral symptoms.
The CATIE-AD study is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Other funding received by the individual authors is disclosed in the article itself.
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USC in the News
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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