Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences
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Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci. · Jun 2007
Comparative StudyComparison of the risk of adverse events between risperidone and haloperidol in delirium patients.
The aim of this study was to determine the risk of adverse events for risperidone and haloperidol in delirium patients. The authors conducted a retrospective study with medical records of 266 Japanese delirium inpatients who were referred to them between July 2001 and May 2005. Information on gender, age, delirium, drug therapy, adverse events, death, and other relevant factors was collected and analyzed for each patient. ⋯ The incidence of death within 1 year after the onset of delirium was 30.1% for risperidone, 29.5% for oral haloperidol, and 45.9% for haloperidol injection. Between risperidone, oral haloperidol, and intravenous or intramuscular haloperidol the incidence of adverse events was significantly lowest for risperidone, and the incidence of death during delirium was significantly highest for intravenous or intramuscular haloperidol. The use of haloperidol as a first-line drug in delirium patients who can receive the drug orally will not contribute to the establishment of drug therapy for delirium based on risk-benefit assessment of the therapy.