Quetiapine and ziprasidone as adjuncts in treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder: a retrospective comparative study.
OBJECTIVE
While serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) are first-line pharmacological agents in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), 40-60% of patients with the disorder do not respond to these agents. This suggests that other neurotransmitters may play a role in OCD. In this regard, there has been particular interest in the dopaminergic system, with various antipsychotic drugs having been used as adjunctive therapy for refractory OCD. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of quetiapine and ziprasidone as adjuncts for treatment-resistant OCD.


METHODS
A total of 24 OCD patients treated with either quetiapine (n = 15) or ziprasidone (n = 9) as adjunctive therapy to high-dose SRI treatment were included in this retrospective evaluation. Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale scores were used to evaluate baseline clinical status and clinical improvement at 1, 2, 3 and 6 months of follow-up.


RESULTS
Clinical improvement was established in 80% of the quetiapine group and in 44.4% of the ziprasidone group with an overall mean improvement rate on the Y-BOCS scale of 66.7%. Both Y-BOCS and CGI mean scores were higher in the ziprasidone group at 2, 3 and 6 months follow-up than in the quetiapine group.


CONCLUSIONS
In the first reported study of its role in this setting, ziprasidone was found to be less effective than quetiapine in the treatment of refractory OCD.
Department of Psychiatry, Gaziantep University, Faculty of Medicine, Gaziantep, Turkey.
Haluk A
HA
Savas
Mehmet
M
Yumru
Murat E
ME
Ozen
D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003987:Dibenzothiazepines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D010879:Piperazines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011594:Psychometrics; D000069348:Quetiapine Fumarate; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013844:Thiazoles / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D003987:Dibenzothiazepines; D010879:Piperazines; D013844:Thiazoles; D000069348:Quetiapine Fumarate; C092292:ziprasidone