An association was observed between polymorphisms in HTR2A and HTR2C genes and occurrence of acute EPS in schizophrenic patients treated with perphenazine monotherapy. Larger study populations are needed to confirm our findings.

The higher zuclopenthixol steady-state plasma concentrations in heterozygous EM and PM schizophrenic patients receiving monotherapy with zuclopenthixol-decanoate than in homozygous EMs indicates a significant role of CYP2D6 in the systemic elimination of zuclopenthixol. The tendencies for patients carrying at least one mutated CYP2D6 gene to have an increased risk of parkinsonism and TD are in accordance with previous studies. Age was a significant risk factor for neurological side effects.

The study demonstrated two distinct processes of action on cognition between sertindole and haloperidol and the marked beneficial effects of sertindole, particularly in parameters that are regarded as schizophrenia-related cognitive disturbances.

BackgroundThe Subjective Well-Being Under Neuroleptic Treatment Scale short form (SWN-K) is a self-rating scale developed to measure mentally ill patients' well-being under the antipsychotic drug treatment. This paper reports on adaptation and psychometric properties of the instrument in an Estonian psychiatric sample.MethodsIn a naturalistic study design, 124 inpatients or outpatients suffering from the first psychotic episode or chronic psychotic illness completed the translated SWN-K instrument. Item content analysis, internal consistency analysis, exploratory principal components analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis were used to construct the Estonian version of the SWN-K (SWN-K-E). Additionally, socio-demographic and clinical data, observer-rated psychopathology, medication side effects, daily antipsychotic drug dosages, and general functioning were assessed at two time points, at baseline and after a 29-week period; the associations of the SWN-K-E scores with these variables were explored.ResultsAfter having selected 20 items for the Estonian adaptation, the internal consistency of the total SWN-K-E was 0.93 and the subscale consistencies ranged from 0.70 to 0.80. Good test–retest reliabilities were observed for the adapted scale scores, with the correlation of the total score over about 6 months being r = 0.70. Confirmatory factor analysis replicated the presence of a higher-order factor (general well-being) and five first-order factors (mental functioning, physical functioning, social integration, emotional regulation, and self-control); the model fitted the data well. The results indicated a moderate-high correlations r = 0.54 between the SWN-K-E total score and the evaluation how satisfied patients were with their lives in generally. No significant correlations were found between the overall subjective well-being score and age, severity of the psychopathology, drug adverse effects, or prescribed drug dosage.ConclusionTaken together, the results demonstrated that the Estonian version of the SWN-K is a reliable and valid instrument with psychometric properties similar to the original English version. The potential uses of the scale in both research and clinical settings are considered.

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