Risperidone versus haloperidol in long-term hospitalized chronic patients in a double blind randomized trial: a post hoc analysis

Background: Patients who remain in hospital for an extended time pose a spe cial therapeutic: challenge. Objectives: The goal of this study was to exam ine whether the acute response of long-term hospitalized schizophrenic pati ents differs between haloperidol and risperidone based on a post hoc, sub-a nalysis of data from a large double blind pivotal trial. Method: Data on ch ronic schizophrenic patients who had been hospitalized for at least 60 days (median 351 days) prior to entering this 8-week randomized double blind co ntrolled trial were examined. This included 75 patients treated with 4 mg o f risperidone and 69 treated with 10 mg of haloperidol. Changes in symptoms were assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophre nia (PANSS) and the Clinical Global Impression (CGI). Data were analyzed us ing analysis of variance. Results: The analyses revealed that patients rece iving risperidone improved significantly more than those treated with halop eridol. Conclusions: Results suggest that the most often prescribed dose of risperidone. 4 mg, might be more effective for long-stay chronic schizophr enic patients than haloperidol 10 mg. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All ri ghts reserved.