title: Comparative efficacy and safety of long-acting risperidone and risperidone oral tablets.
abstract: A double-blind study of long-acting injectable risperidone and oral risperidone tablets was conducted in 640 patients with schizophrenia. All patients received flexible doses of 1-6 mg of oral risperidone for 8 weeks. Doses were stable during weeks 5-8. At the end of week 8, symptomatically stable patients were randomly assigned to receive long-acting risperidone (active injections, dummy oral) or continued oral risperidone (dummy injections, active oral) for 12 weeks. Significant improvements were demonstrated from baseline to endpoint in Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) total (P<0.001) and factor scores (P<0.05) in both groups. According to a noninferiority analysis, the two treatments showed comparable efficacy in total PANSS scores over the short-term. No unexpected adverse events were recorded. The findings indicate that symptomatically stable patients can be safely switched from oral risperidone to long-acting injectable risperidone without compromising efficacy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. pchue@ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chue
authors.forename: Marielle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eerdekens
authors.forename: Ilse
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Augustyns
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lachaux
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Molcan
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Eriksson
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Pretorius
authors.forename: Anthony S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: David
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004333:Drug Administration Routes; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D018967:Risperidone / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D018967:Risperidone