Long-Acting Risperidone in Young Adults with Early Schizophrenia or Schizoaffective Illness

Abstract

Long-acting risperidone was associated with clinical benefits in stable young adults with early schizophrenia or schizoaffective illness.

Risperidone long-acting injection: a review of its long term safety and efficacy

“…In the subgroup analysis by Lasser et al (2007), improvement of the PANSS score over time in the young adults (men aged 18–25, women 18–30) was identical to what was seen in older adults. Mean scores on the patients’ subjective ESRS severity ratings for movement disorders and the physicians’ ratings of parkinsonism were significantly improved, from 3.1 ± 3.2 at baseline to 1.6 ± 2.4 at endpoint (p < 0.0001) and from 2.2 ± 2.4 to 1.1 ± 1.8 (p < 0.0001), respectively.…”

“…Mean maximum increase in ESRS total score was minimal, at 1.4 points (95% CI, 0.61–2.10) There was a unusually marked increase in body mass index (4.8 ± 3.8 kg/m 2 ), although more than half of the patients had remained on the lowest recommended dose (25 mg every 2 weeks), but overall treatment was well tolerated. Two other open-label studies investigated patients who were in the early stages of schizophreniform disorders but not necessarily treatment-naive: a subgroup analysis of 66 young adults (Lasser et al 2007) from the much larger 12-month trial (see the section of earlier efficacy and safety data, above), and a 6-month trial in 382 patients at the University of Barcelona who typically had schizophrenia with a median duration of 1 year since diagnosis and required a change from their previous medication, mainly because of non-compliance (42%) and insufficient efficacy (31%) (Parellada et al 2005). The subgroup analysis of young patients from the StoRMI trial (Saleem et al 2004) should also be considered in this context.…”

Long-acting risperidone injection: efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of the first long-acting atypical antipsychotic

“…Following initiation of long-acting risperidone statistically significant improvements were seen in the control of symptoms and the severity of schizophrenia (both PANSS and CGI-S), as well as Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), HRQoL, patient satisfaction, and EPS (Parellada et al 2005). A number of other sub-analyses have also reported that long-acting risperidone was efficacious and well accepted in young adults with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (Lasser et al 2004d; Saleem et al 2004) (Table 2). In addition, Emsley et al, has reported on the 6-month interim data on 51 patients with first episode psychosis with 74% of patients achieving ≥50% reduction in the PANSS (Emsley et al 2005).…”

Long-term tolerability of once-monthly injectable paliperidone palmitate in subjects with recently diagnosed schizophrenia

“…These treatment similarities deserve comment because one might have expected lower doses and/ or shorter exposures to be used in subjects with early illness if they tolerated the drug less well than more chronically ill subjects 5,15,43,56–58. However, it is relevant to note that the paliperidone palmitate doses allowed in this study (39, 78, 117, and 156 mg [25, 50, 75, and 100 mg eq]) did not include the highest available 234 mg (150 mg eq) dose.…”