Anti-psychotic drugs link to pneumonia warning. bbcnews. April 06, 2010. The use of anti-psychotic drugs in the elderly doubles the risk of potentially fatal pneumonia, say Dutch researchers. A study of almost 2,000 patients found the increased risk starts soon after treatment begins and concluded that patients should be closely monitored.An expert review published in 2009 found the drugs are overused in many cases and are responsible for up to 1,800 deaths in the UK every year.Ministers have said they want to see a significant cut in their use.The latest research published in the Annals of Internal Medicine compared the health records of 258 over-65s with pneumonia with 1,686 patients without the infection. [ See ]