A double-blind pilot study of risperidone in the treatment of conduct disorder

Objective: To examine whether risperidone is superior to placebo in the tre atment of youths with conduct disorder. Method: This was a 10-week, randomi zed, double-blind, placebo-controlled study with 2 parallel arms. Ten youth s were randomly assigned to receive placebo and 10 youths were randomly ass igned to receive risperidone. Patients were seen weekly throughout the tria l. Medications could be increased at weekly intervals during the first 6 we eks of the study from an initial dose of 0.25 mg or 0.50 mg each morning, d epending on patient weight. Patients weighing less than 50 kg had a maximum total daily dose of risperidone of 1.5 mg. Patients weighing 50 kg or grea ter had a maximum total daily dose of risperidone of 3.0 mg. The primary ou tcome measure was the Rating of Aggression Against People and/or Property S cale. Results: Risperidone was superior to placebo in ameliorating aggressi on on most measures. Risperidone was reasonably well tolerated, with none o f the risperidone-treated patients developing extrapyramidal side effects. Conclusions: These data provide preliminary evidence that risperidone may h ave efficacy in the treatment of youths with conduct disorder. Because of t he small sample size and the brief length of this study. further research i s necessary to confirm these findings.