Objective: Antipsychotic monotherapy is considered as the reference standard in the pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia. Nonetheless, there is a large rate of studies showing polypharmacy with antipsychotics as more frequent than would be expected attending experts' recommendations. The objective of this study is to describe polypharmacy with antipsychotic regimen in patients with schizophrenia discharged with amisulpride from the short-term hospitalization unit.
Methods: We have analyzed the prescription of psychotropic drugs upon discharge of 52 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who were discharged with amisulpride from January to December 2005. Variables were included to describe the following treatments: antipsychotic (drug and dose), benzodiazepine, and anticholinergic drugs. Sociodemographic and clinical variables were also collected.
Results: In the group treated with 2 antipsychotics, the most frequently used common combination was with a classic antipsychotic in depot formulation. Patients (17.5%) were prescribed to another 2 antipsychotics in addition to amisulpride, being the most common combination with a second generation antipsychotic, and a classic or depot antipsychotic.
Conclusions: The results of our study show that the use of amisulpride as an adjuvant can be a suitable therapeutic strategy for patients with schizophrenia resistant to treatment and for the rapid control of symptoms in schizophrenic patients with acute episodes. However, its clinical use does not have to be reserved exclusively for patients with resistant schizophrenia to clozapine.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/WNF.0B013E3181672213 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Mental health professionals' perspectives and suggestions on religious and superstitious activities engagement of patients with serious mental illness: A national survey in Thailand.
Int J Soc Psychiatry
January 2025
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University and King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand.
Background: Patients with serious mental illness (SMI) often engage in religious and superstitious activities. The implications of such engagements remain unclear, with no established guidelines for mental health professionals.
Aims: This study aimed to survey perspectives and gather suggestions from various disciplines within mental healthcare regarding the engagement in religious/superstitious activities of SMI patients: schizophrenia spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder.
First episode of psychosis in rural Greece: A multi-center study of the Mobile Mental Health Units.
Int J Soc Psychiatry
January 2025
Medical School, Democritus University of Thrace, Alexandroupolis, Greece.
Background: Over the last decades the study of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders has been focused on early and comprehensive intervention during the first episode of psychosis (FEP), but studies in rural settings are only rare. In Greece mental healthcare in rural areas is mostly delivered by the locally-based Mobile Mental Health Units (MMHUs).
Aims: The aim of the present study was to address treatment of FEP patients by the MMHUs in rural areas in Greece, focusing on patients with a first episode of schizophrenia.
Comparative Analysis of Serum BAFF and IL-17 Levels Pre- and Post-Antipsychotic Treatment for Acute Schizophrenia.
Int J Mol Sci
January 2025
Research Laboratory LR12ES04, Faculty of Medicine of Sousse, University of Sousse, Sousse 4002, Tunisia.
The interplay between the cytokine network and antipsychotic treatment in schizophrenia remains poorly understood. This study aimed to investigate the impact of psychotropic medications on serum levels of IFN-γ, IL-4, TGF-β1, IL-17, and BAFF, and to explore their relationship with psychopathological features. We recruited 63 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia in the acute phase, all of whom were either drug-naïve or had been drug-free for at least three months.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKnowing is Half the Battle: The Factors Leading to Efficient Recruitment of Representative Samples in Schizophrenia Research.
Pharmaceut Med
January 2025
New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
Background And Objectives: Drug development in schizophrenia is limited by the differential scaling of the active treatment and placebo arms of a study, such that, as the number of sites increases, the magnitude of placebo response disproportionately increases. The objective of this article was to identify factors conducive to efficient recruitment as a step towards trial designs allowing recruitment of more participants per site, leading to reduced variability, and potentially a smaller placebo effect.
Patients And Methods: Using the information of 554 individuals, we calculated the percentage of individuals who were screened, consented, and retained in our research, along with rationale for nonconsent.
Impaired insight in schizophrenia is associated with higher frontoparietal cerebral blood flow: an arterial spin labeling study.
Schizophrenia (Heidelb)
January 2025
Multimodal Imaging Group, Brain Health Imaging Centre, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), Toronto, ON, Canada.
Impaired insight into illness occurs in up to 98% of patients with schizophrenia, depending on the stage of illness, and leads to negative clinical outcomes. Previous neuroimaging studies suggest that impaired insight in patients with schizophrenia may be related to structural and functional anomalies in frontoparietal brain regions. To date, limited studies have investigated the association between regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) and impaired insight in schizophrenia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!