Pharmacogenomic testing is an evidence-based tool that provides information about a patient’s response to medications and can help guide healthcare professionals when dosing medications.
According to the new guidelines from the American Psychiatric Association, healthcare providers should focus on “judicious” use of antipsychotic medications when treating people with dementia.
The guidelines, published this week in the American Journal of Psychiatry, acknowledge antipsychotics can be appropriate for people with dementia who exhibit severe or agitation or psychosis. But providers should assess each patient’s symptoms and and possible nonpharmacological interventions before administering the drugs, experts cautioned.
“Over the last few years there have been a number of additional studies that suggest there can be harms with these medications,” author Laura Fochtmann, M.D., told MedPage Today. “As the number of older individuals with dementia increases, we want to be assured that patients are getting the most appropriate form of treatment.”
The guidelines include recommendations to taper and eventually discontinue antipsychotic use if patients experience significant side effects or see no significant response after a 4-week trial. Patients who show an “adequate” response to antipsychotics should also have their doses tapered within 4 months of starting on the drug, unless they exhibit a recurrence of symptoms during tapering or withdrawal, the authors said.
With pharmacogenomic testing, healthcare professionals can avoid the “trial and error” or guessing game. They will have an evidence based tool to help guide them in dosing.
“You don’t always have the luxury of waiting 4-6 weeks when you are dealing with a patients who is agitated or displaying aggression. To wait 4 weeks and find out the medication isn’t working, or that the medication you gave them is having an adverse reaction with another medication they are taking, that is hard on everyone,” said Clay Bullard, President of PGx Medical.
PGx Medical is headquartered in Oklahoma but offers education and implementation of their Metabolic Validation Program across the country. “Our program is designed to help healthcare professionals avoid the “trial and error” process and offer their patients more precise, pinpoint therapy. By knowing which medications a patient has the ability to metabolize properly, allows the healthcare provider to accurately prescribe medications. That doesn’t mean they won’t have side effects from that medication, it just means their body will metabolize the medications the way the drug manufacturer intended, therefore giving them therapy.”
Bullard went on to say, “dementia patients can’t always tell you if their medications are, or are not working. So to have a customized patient report which includes personalized result interpretations and actionable treatment recommendations for each patient, it really helps shorten the timeframe giving that individual therapy a lot sooner.”
When a dementia patient is treated with medications that work and lessens the agitation and aggression, it may help offset the fatigue and burnout on the staff and caregivers.
For more information on the PGx Medical Metabolic Validation Program, contact:
PGx Medical
Individualized Care – Personalized Medicine
info@pgxmed.com
405-509-5112
Source:
American Psychiatric Association
American Journal of Psychiatry
MedPage Today