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Polypharmacy in the treatment of subjects with intellectual disability

  • Psychiatry and Preclinical Psychiatric Studies - Review article
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Abstract

People with intellectual disabilities often suffer from mental disorders or display challenging behavior. For both impairments, treatment with more than one psychopharmacological drug is common, although little is known about efficacy and side effects of polypharmacological treatment. The paper reviews studies on treatment of people with intellectual disability (ID) with more than one psychoactive drug. Many studies rely on poor evidence and are supplemented with data from our own research. Risks and benefits of different combinations containing neuroleptics are listed. Ethical considerations for the use of different drugs combined are discussed. The use of combinations of neuroleptics on people with ID should be carried out with great care, since side effects may be amplified in people with ID, depending on the combination.

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Conflict of interest

Frank Häßler: Advisory Board: Eli Lilly GmbH Germany, Janssen-Cilag, Shire, Research Support: Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Vital, Travel Grants: Novartis Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical, Bayer Vital, Consulting Fees: Janssen-Cilag, Novartis Pharmaceuticals, Bayer Vital.

Johannes Thome: has received financial support from pharmaceutical companies (Actelion, Astra Zeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Janssen-Cilag, Lilly, Lundbeck, MEDICE, Merz, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Servier, Shire, Trommsdorff) some of which manufacture medication used in the treatment of Alzheimer patients.

Olaf Reis: no conflicts of interest declared.

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  1. University of Rostock, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany

    Frank Häβler, Johannes Thome & Olaf Reis

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  1. Frank Häβler
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  2. Johannes Thome
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Correspondence to Olaf Reis.

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Häβler, F., Thome, J. & Reis, O. Polypharmacy in the treatment of subjects with intellectual disability. J Neural Transm 122 (Suppl 1), 93–100 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-014-1219-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-014-1219-x

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