title: Antipsychotic prophylaxis is needed after remission from a first psychotic episode in schizophrenia patients: results from an aborted randomised trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the effect of withdrawal of antipsychotic treatment on relapse risk in remitted first-episode schizophrenia patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  First-episode 1-year stable and remitted outpatients with a schizophrenic disorder were randomly allocated to continuation of their antipsychotic regimen for at least 6 months (N = 9), or gradual withdrawal (N = 11). Primary outcome was the difference in cumulative relapse-free survival at 9 months.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Recruitment was terminated prematurely on 26 October 2005. The cumulative relapse-free survival was 88% (SE = 0.12) in the continuation and 18% (SE = 0.12) in the discontinuation group (P = 0.001) at 9 months follow-up.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Discontinuation of antipsychotic medication markedly increases the risk of relapse in stable remitted first-episode schizophrenia patients. In future studies the topics of safety monitoring and sampling of patients should receive extra attention.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Rudolf Magnus Institute of Neuroscience, Department of Adult Psychiatry and Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care, Utrecht, The Netherlands. g.boonstra@umcutrecht.nl
authors: Geartsje
authors: G
authors: Boonstra
authors: Huibert
authors: H
authors: Burger
authors: Diederick E
authors: DE
authors: Grobbee
authors: René S
authors: RS
authors: Kahn
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000517:prevention & control; D055502:Secondary Prevention
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents