CONVENTIONAL VERSUS ATYPICAL NEUROLEPTICS - SUBJECTIVE QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN SCHIZOPHRENIC-PATIENTS

Background The effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs against positive p sychotic symptoms has been demonstrated in many studies, but their eff ects on quality of life have yet to be clarified. The impact of differ ent neuroleptic therapies on the subjective quality of life of schizop hrenic patients is evaluated in a cross-sectional open study. Method D uring a four-month period a standardised quality of life interview for schizophrenic patients was applied on day 10 after admission; 33 pati ents on atypical neuroleptics (AAP) were compared with 31 matched pati ents on conventional neuroleptics (CAP). Results The AAP group had sig nificantly higher scores in general quality of life as well as in diff erent life domains: physical wellbeing, social life and everyday life. In separate comparisons of the AAP group, patients on clozapine and r isperidone were found to have a higher quality of life score than pati ents on CAP or zotepine. Conclusions The pharmacological profile of cl ozapine and risperidone may provide a basis for explaining the higher subjective quality of life found in this study. The lower quality of l ife of the CAP group may possibly be related to intrinsic effects of t he conventional antipsychotics.