The efficacy and safety of risperidone for the treatment of geriatric psychosis

Risperidone is an atypical antipsychotic drug which has been suggested to b e beneficial for the treatment of elderly patients with psychotic symptoms. In this study, we assessed the short-term efficacy and the safety of rispe ridone in geropsychiatric inpatients with psychotic symptoms. The sample po pulation included 110 elderly inpatients with psychotic disorders. Assessme nt for drug efficacy using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Sandoz Clini cal Assessment-Geriatric scale, and Clinical Global Impression scale was co nducted at baseline and also at 4 weeks subsequent to risperidone treatment commencement. Subsequent to commencing risperidone treatment, 80 patients completed a 4-week therapeutic evaluation. Seventy (87.5%) of the 80 patien ts experienced mild to substantial improvement using the Clinical Global Im pression scale. Adverse effects were monitored in all 110 patients. The mos t commonly detected adverse effects were weakness of legs or walking proble ms (43/110; 39.1%) and dizziness (32/110; 29.1%). Peripheral edema was note d in IS (16.4%) patients. Risperidone, in low doses, appeared to have been effective in this sample of patients older than 65 years with psychotic sym ptoms. The mean dose (2.1 +/- SD 1.4 mg/day) applied was lower then that su ggested for young patients and was related to the each specific patient dia gnosis. Peripheral edema and walking problems were commonly observed advers e effects for these elderly patients, such problems having not been seen to the same extent in previous studies of young patients.