Effects of atypical neuroleptics on sustained attention deficits in schizophrenia: A trial of risperidone versus haloperidol

To help determine whether sustained attention deficits as measured with the Continuous Performance Test (CPT) are stable vulnerability indicators of s chizophrenia, we compared the CPT performance of schizophrenic patients bef ore and after blind trial, 56 schizophrenic patients were randomly assigned to a 12-week regimen of either risperidone or haloperidol, after a 1-week washout period. The patients undertook two sessions of the CPT (undegraded and 25% degraded) twice, one at the end of the washout period and the other at the end of the study. Thirty-eight patients completed the the study, 19 in each group. Both groups experienced significant improvements in clinica l symptoms, and the risperidone group showed no change in the severity of e xtrapyramidal symptoms. Despite those improvements, the CPT performance ind exes did not change significantly from the beginning to the end of the stud y. These findings indicate that sustained attention deficits might be stabl e vulnerability indicators of schizophrenia. [Neuropsychopharmacology 122:3 11-319, 2000] (C) 2000 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Publish ed by Elsevier Science Inc.