Impact of antipsychotic medication on family burden in schizophrenia: longitudinal results of CATIE trial.
BACKGROUND
This study evaluated the effectiveness of first- and second-generation antipsychotics in reducing family burden associated with schizophrenia.


METHODS
The family caregivers of 623 SCID-diagnosed patients enrolled in the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) randomly assigned to a first-generation antipsychotic (perphenazine) or one of four second-generation drugs (olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone or ziprasidone) were interviewed about resources provided and stresses experienced at baseline and followed for 18 months. Patient symptoms, side effects and service use were assessed as well. Hierarchical regression analyses evaluated the effect of treatment assignment on four burden factors: problem behavior, resource demands and disruption, impairment in activities of daily living and patient helpfulness. Intention-to-treat analyses with all available observations classified based on initial treatment assignment, including observations after medications changed were followed by secondary analyses excluding observations after the first medication change, i.e. only considering initial medication.


RESULTS
Despite significant reductions on the problem behavior and resource demands/disruption factors, there were no significant differences between perphenazine and any of the second-generation medications. When only initial treatment period observations were included, patients were perceived as more helpful when medicated with perphenazine as compared to risperidone. In comparisons between second-generation drugs, patients on quetiapine were perceived as more helpful than those on risperidone (p=0.004).


CONCLUSIONS
In this 18-month randomized trial, there was no evidence of superiority of second-generation antipsychotics in relieving family burden.
Department of Psychiatry, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, One Gustave L. Levy Place, New York, New York 10029-6574, USA. debbieperlick@aol.com
Deborah A
DA
Perlick
Robert A
RA
Rosenheck
Richard
R
Kaczynski
Marvin S
MS
Swartz
Jose M
JM
Canive
Jeffrey A
JA
Lieberman
D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000191:economics* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001294:Attitude to Health; D017028:Caregivers / Q000523:psychology; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005190:Family / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000191:economics*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents