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 special therapeutic challenge. OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to examine whether the acute response of long-term hospitalized schizophrenic patients differs between haloperidol and risperidone based on a post hoc, sub-analysis of data from a large double blind pivotal trial. METHOD: Data on chronic schizophrenic patients who had been hospitalized for at least 60 days (median 351 days) prior to entering this 8-week randomized double blind controlled trial were examined. This included 75 patients treated with 4 mg of risperidone and 69 treated with 10mg of haloperidol. Changes in symptoms were assessed with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia (PANSS) and the Clinical Global Impression (CGI). Data were analyzed using analysis of variance. RESULTS: The analyses revealed that patients receiving risperidone improved significantly more than those treated with haloperidol. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that the most often prescribed dose of risperidone, 4 mg, might be more effective for long-stay chronic schizophrenic patients than haloperidol 10mg.