[A Meta-analysis of the effectiveness of risperidone versus traditional agents for Tourette's syndrome].

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of risperidone versus traditional agents in treating Tourette's syndrome.

Methods: Randomized, controlled trials (RCTs) of risperidone versus traditional agents for Tourette's syndrome were identified, and eligible studies were included according to our established strategy. Besides methodological quality of inclusive trials, assessed by the Jadad scale, heterogeneity test, Meta-analysis, funnel plot analysis, subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis were used to analyze the data.

Results: A total of 12 RCTs were included, with most trials of low methodological quality and high heterogeneity. Meta-analysis from 11 of the identified RCTs, involving total 741 patients, showed that there was no significant difference in efficacy between risperidone and traditional agents, based on the results of sensitivity analysis, and analyses of a haloperidol subgroup and a domesticforeign subgroup. The funnel plots was approximately symmetrical, indicating little publication bias. Risperidone presented mild side effects overall, including extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS), autonomic nervous system symptoms, toxic reactions and the Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale (TESS) score of the treatment group were significantly less than those of control.

Conclusion: Risperidone appears to have the same efficacy and appropriate safety as traditional agents in treating Tourette's syndrome. Because of the low validity of the results, we are searching for support from the more RCTs with higher methodological quality.