title: Plasma homovanillic acid levels and therapeutic outcome in schizophrenics: comparisons of neuroleptic-naive first-episode patients and patients with disease exacerbation due to neuroleptic discontinuance.
abstract: Plasma homovanillic acid (pHVA) levels were measured and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) scores were evaluated in 26 schizophrenic patients who had either never been medicated (neuroleptic-naive, first-episode subjects) or whose condition had become exacerbated following neuroleptic discontinuance (exacerbated subjects). All the subjects received medication with a fixed dose of a neuroleptic (haloperidol or fluphenazine, both 9 mg/day) for the first week and variable doses for the subsequent 4 weeks. In the neuroleptic-naive subjects, pHVA levels increased significantly 1 week after starting the protocol; this increase correlated significantly with clinical improvement of the BPRS positive symptom scores at week 5. In the neuroleptic-naive subjects, pHVA levels had declined to the baseline level by week 5. In the exacerbated subjects, there were no significant correlations between pHVA level changes at week 1 and later improvements of the BPRS positive symptom scores. These results suggest that the rise in pHVA levels occurring within 1 week after starting a fixed neuroleptic dose may predict a favorable clinical response in neuroleptic-naive schizophrenic patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, Okayama University Medical School, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Akiyama
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tsuchida
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kanzaki
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ujike
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hamamura
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mutoh
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyanagi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kuroda
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Otsuki
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D010054:Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale; D005260:Female; D005476:Fluphenazine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006220:Haloperidol / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006719:Homovanillic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000097:blood* / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D006220:Haloperidol; D005476:Fluphenazine; D006719:Homovanillic Acid