How Risperidone affect the Quality of Life in Schizophrenic Patients on Their Maintenance Treatment?: Single Open Long-Term Clinical Trial

Lee, Jong Il; Kim, Nam Hee; Chung, Eun Kee; Yoon, Jin Sang

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate how risperidone, a new atypical antipsychotics, affect the quality of life in schizophrenics on their maintenance treatment.
METHODS
The authors selected 39 schizophrenic patients diagnosed by the criteria of DSM-IV. We investigated their sociodemographic data, clinical characteristics, laboratory examination, PANSS for psychopathology evaluation, and UKU side effect rating scale. Also the subjects were asked the KmSWN scale, which consists of 18 items and a 6-point score, three times for studying the effect on the quality of life in schizophrenics over 26-week period. For the assessment, the authors conducted repeated measures ANOVA to evaluate the differences of mean dose of risperidone, vital sign, weight, PANSS scores, and UKU side effect rating scores at period of baseline, 2-week, 14-week, and 26-week respectively. Also We used Pearson correlation coefficients to assess the relationship between KmSWN and PANSS scores, KmSWN and UKU side effect rating scores.
RESULTS
The results were shown as follows : first, in clinical evaluation, we observed mild systolic pressure diminution and 2.3 kg of mean weight gain at 26-week period but did not detected abnormal blood glucose level ; second, we observed the significant reduction in PANSS and UKU side effect rating scores on risperidone treatment, but the change of subjective evaluation on quality of life did not reported ; third, the schizophrenic symptoms, particularly negative and general psychopathology symptoms, and side effects were correlated negatively with the subjective evaluation on quality of life in schizophrenic patients at 26-week period after risperidone treatment in the Pearson correlation analysis.
CONCLUSION
The authors observed the significant reduction in PANSS and UKU side effect rating scores at 26-week compared to baseline period. As the negative and general psychopathology symptoms, and the side effects reduced, the subjective evaluation on the quality of life improved in schizophrenic patients.