Research: Audit on the Use of Antipsychotic Medication in a Community Sample of People with Learning Disability

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Authored by Dhumad, S., and Markar N. in The British Journal of Developmental Disabilities, Volume 53, Issue 104, p. 47-51, (2007).

Article summary (posted May 15, 2007):

Risperidone is commonly given to treat bad behavior from autism.

This is a report of an audit of the use of antipsychotic drugs for to treat people with learning disabilities. The survey counted the drugs given to people in two towns (Stevenage and Letchworth) in the United Kingdom. The authors report that 19% of the people with learning disabilities in these towns who were given antipsychotics were given antipsychotics because they had autism. Many people in the towns were given risperidone and 39% of the people given risperidone were given it because of bad behavior from autism. These results are very much like results from an earlier study that found that 25% of risperidone use was for bad behavior from pervasive developmental disorders (PDD).

Links:

You can access the original abstract and the complete paper is sometimes available for free via Google Scholar (look for entries that say "PDF" or "HTML" on the right side of the page).
antipsychotic, autism, drug, medication, pervasive developmental disorder (PDD), Risperdal (risperidone)
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