Abstract
Aims: The study aims to determine the clinical outcomes of aripiprazole treatment in adolescents and young adults with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Methods: This was a 24-week, observational, prospective study. Patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders were prescribed a daily dose of 5mg to 30mg of aripiprazole. Effectiveness was assessed by the change from baseline in psychotic symptoms and quality of life. Results: Forty-two patients with a mean age of 18.1±3.7years were recruited. Eighteen were experiencing the first episode of psychosis (FEP), whereas the remaining 24 were non-FEP. Psychotic symptoms, but not quality of life, improved globally from baseline scores by the endpoint of the study (effect size=0.44). Compared with non-FEP patients, FEP patients had greater improvements (effect size=0.45) in some clinical outcome dimensions during the 24-week aripiprazole treatment. Conclusion: We observed significant improvements of medium effect sizes in psychotic symptoms of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders within a naturalistic clinical setting, especially for FEP patients.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 89-93 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Early Intervention in Psychiatry |
Volume | 7 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 02 2013 |
Keywords
- Adolescent
- Antipsychotic
- Early intervention
- Effectiveness
- First-episode psychosis