No results are conclusive and all are based on small, short, studies. It would be understandable, however, if clinicians were cautious in prescribing doses in excess of 7.5 mg/day of haloperidol to a person with uncomplicated acute schizophrenia, and if people with schizophrenia were equally reticent to take greater doses. Further research is needed regarding the efficacy and tolerability of the >1.5-3.0 mg/day dose range.
Dosage of haloperidol for schizophrenia.
Eighty-seven newly admitted inpatients with schizophrenia were randomized to receive 10, 30, or 80 mg/d of oral haloperidol. They were treated under double-blind conditions for 6 weeks, less if their acute symptoms remitted sooner. Survival analysis showed no differences among the three treatments. Side effects were minimal in all three treatment groups, and there were no differences in side effects among the groups. These results suggest that dosages higher than 10 mg/d of haloperidol for most patients have no additional beneficial effect in the treatment of acute or exacerbated schizophrenia.