 |
| Research article summary (published 30 Dec 2001): |
Short-term cognitive improvement in schizophrenics treated with typical and atypical neuroleptics.
Full Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
Atypical neuroleptics seem to be more beneficial than typical ones with respect to long-term neuropsychological functioning. Thus, most studies focus on the long-term effects of neuroleptics. We were interested in whether atypical neuroleptic treatment is also superior to typical drugs over relatively short periods of time.
METHODS:
We studied 20 schizophrenic patients [10 males, mean age 35.5 years, mean Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) score at entry 58.9] admitted to our hospital with acute psychotic exacerbation. Nine of them were treated with typical and 11 with atypical neuroleptics. In addition, 14 healthy drug-free subjects (6 males, mean age 31.2 years) were enrolled in the study and compared to the patients. As neuropsychological tools, a divided attention test, the Vienna reaction time test, the Benton visual retention test, digit span and a Multiple Choice Word Fluency Test (MWT-B) were used during the first week after admission, within the third week and before discharge (approximately 3 months).
RESULTS:
Patients scored significantly worse than healthy controls on nearly all tests (except Vienna reaction time). Clinical ratings [BPRS and Positive and Negative Symptom Scale for Schizophrenia (PANSS)] improved markedly (p < 0.01), without a significant difference between typical and atypical medication. Clinical improvement (PANSS total score) correlated with less mistakes on the Benton test (r = 0.762, p = 0.017) and an improvement on the divided attention task (r = 0.705, p = 0.034). Neuropsychological functioning (explicit memory, p < 0.01; divided attention, p < 0.05) moderately improved for both groups under treatment but without a significant difference between atypical and typical antipsychotic drugs.
CONCLUSIONS:
Over short periods of time (3 months), neuropsychological disturbances in schizophrenia seem to be moderately responsive to both typical and atypical neuroleptics.Copyright 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel
Learn Faster Today Improve your study skills
Author information
Author/s: Rollnik, Jens D (JD); Borsutzky, Marthias (M); Huber, Thomas J (TJ); Mogk, Hannu (H); Seifert, Jürgen (J); Emrich, Hinderk M (HM); Schneider, Udo (U);
Affiliation: Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, Medical School of Hannover, Hannover, Germany. rollnik.jens(-atsign-)mh-hannover.de
Journal and publication information
Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Controlled Clinical Trial; Journal Article
Journal: Neuropsychobiology (Neuropsychobiology), published in Switzerland. (Language: eng)
Reference: 2002-; vol 45 (issue 2) : pp 74-80
Dates: Created 2002/03/14; Completed 2002/05/03; Revised 2004/11/17;
PMID: 11893863, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 11/6/2008)
Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.
External Links for this article (including full text providers, if available):
Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.
This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.
MeSH headings (categories)
This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.
|
|
Related articles
This article has not been indexed for related articles as yet, however you can still use the live related article search links below.
See a large map of 100+ related articles.