Atypical antipsychotics in the elderly with Parkinson disease and the "black box" warning.

In the last 2 years, regulatory agencies in the UK and the USA have made recommendations and "black box" warnings, regarding the use of atypical antipsychotic drugs in the elderly because of a purported increase in risk of stroke and death in elderly demented patients. These advisories did not address the adverse effects of "typical" (first-generation) antipsychotics. In this article, the author reviews the history of these developments and raises issues that still need to be addressed by the neurologic community.