Neuropsychological effects of risperidone in children with pervasive developmental disorders: a blinded discontinuation study.
OBJECTIVE
Little is known about the neuropsychological effects of risperidone in children with pervasive developmental disorders.


METHODS
Twenty-four children (aged 5-17 years) with pervasive developmental disorders and co-morbid disruptive behavior who responded favorably to open-label treatment with risperidone as part of a previously described controlled discontinuation study completed two different computerized attention tasks at baseline, weeks 4, 8, and 24 of open-label treatment, and, at 8 weeks after random assignment to either placebo or risperidone. The primary efficacy measures were response latencies to visually presented stimuli requiring two different types of attention-controlled processing, i.e., focused and divided attention.


RESULTS
About half of the clinical responders did not produce valid performance measures. These could be shown to be of younger mental age and less adaptive as measured by the Vineland Behavior Scales. For the valid task performers divided attention (serial search in working memory) was shown to regress in the placebo group (n = 7), while in the risperidone group (n = 7) there was further improvement. No such group difference was found for focused attention.


CONCLUSIONS
The study suggests a beneficial effect of risperidone after several months of treatment, enhancing divided attention in children with pervasive developmental disorders.
Troost
Pieter W
PW
Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. p.troost@accare.nl
Althaus
Monika
M
Lahuis
Bertine E
BE
Buitelaar
Jan K
JK
Minderaa
Ruud B
RB
Hoekstra
Pieter J
PJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression / Q000187:drug effects; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001288:Attention / Q000187:drug effects; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002755:Choice Behavior / Q000187:drug effects; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000187:drug effects; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000187:drug effects; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000187:drug effects; D018967:Risperidone / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D012691:Serial Learning / Q000187:drug effects
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D018967:Risperidone