Use of Quetiapine in Elderly Patients

Behavioral problems associated with psychosis in the elderly have a significant negative impact onpatients’ quality of life and can lead to placement in a nursing home. Because of their decreased propensityto produce extrapyramidal symptoms, atypical antipsychotics such as quetiapine hold promisein the treatment of these vulnerable patients. Quetiapine may, in theory, be particularly advantageousin this regard because of its lack of anticholinergic activity and its relatively loose binding to dopaminereceptors. This article reviews the somewhat limited number of clinical studies of the use ofquetiapine in treating older patients with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, patients withpsychosis associated with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia with Lewy bodies, and patients withParkinson’s disease and drug-induced psychosis.