Use of quetiapine in elderly patients

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