No convincing evidence suggests that atypical antipsychotic medications are superior to typical medications for the treatment of adolescents with psychosis .
However , atypical antipsychotic medications may be more acceptable to young people because fewer symptomatic adverse effects are seen in the short term .
Little evidence is available to support the superiority of one atypical antipsychotic medication over another , but side effect profiles are different for different medications .
Treatment with olanzapine , risperidone and clozapine is often associated with weight gain .
Aripiprazole is not associated with increased prolactin or with dyslipidaemia .
Adolescents may respond better to st and ard-dose as opposed to lower-dose risperidone , but for aripiprazole and ziprasidone , lower doses may be equally effective .
BACKGROUND Schizophrenia often presents in adolescence , but current treatment guidelines are based largely on studies of adults with psychosis .
Over the past decade , the number of studies on treatment of adolescent-onset psychosis has increased .
The current systematic review collates and critiques evidence obtained on the use of various atypical antipsychotic medications for adolescents with psychosis .
OBJECTIVES To investigate the effects of atypical antipsychotic medications in adolescents with psychosis .
We review ed in separate analyses various comparisons of atypical antipsychotic medications with placebo or a typical antipsychotic medication or another atypical antipsychotic medication or the same atypical antipsychotic medication but at a lower dose .
A trial of quetiapine compared with risperidone in the treatment of first onset psychosis among 15- to 18-year-old adolescents
The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of quetiapine in the treatment of first onset psychosis in older adolescents using risperidone as a comparator . Twenty-two patients with first onset psychosis were r and omized to receive quetiapine ( up to 800 mg/day ) or risperidone ( up to 6 mg/day ) for 6 weeks . Raters blind to treatment assignment performed outcome symptom ratings . No statistical differences emerged in terms of efficacy or tolerability between the two drugs . However , there were some clinical ly notable differences that seem to favour the efficacy of risperidone over quetiapine . Patients taking quetiapine , although improved , showed less clinical improvement on scores for total positive and negative symptoms , clinical global severity and depression at 6 weeks than patients taking risperidone . Although both treatments were associated with weight gain and sedation , more patients on quetiapine experienced over 10 % weight gain . However , fewer patients who were taking quetiapine required anticholinergic medication or experienced extrapyramidal side effects than patients taking risperidone . Risperidone was significantly more likely to be associated with elevation in serum prolactin levels in this population . In conclusion , the results in this small trial show that adolescent patients may benefit more from treatment with risperidone than quetiapine . However , those susceptible to side effects , particularly hyperprolactinaemia , may be more suitable for treatment with quetiapine
No convincing evidence suggests that atypical antipsychotic medications are superior to typical medications for the treatment of adolescents with psychosis .
However , atypical antipsychotic medications may be more acceptable to young people because fewer symptomatic adverse effects are seen in the short term .
Little evidence is available to support the superiority of one atypical antipsychotic medication over another , but side effect profiles are different for different medications .
Treatment with olanzapine , risperidone and clozapine is often associated with weight gain .
Aripiprazole is not associated with increased prolactin or with dyslipidaemia .
Adolescents may respond better to st and ard-dose as opposed to lower-dose risperidone , but for aripiprazole and ziprasidone , lower doses may be equally effective .
BACKGROUND Schizophrenia often presents in adolescence , but current treatment guidelines are based largely on studies of adults with psychosis .
Over the past decade , the number of studies on treatment of adolescent-onset psychosis has increased .
The current systematic review collates and critiques evidence obtained on the use of various atypical antipsychotic medications for adolescents with psychosis .
OBJECTIVES To investigate the effects of atypical antipsychotic medications in adolescents with psychosis .
We review ed in separate analyses various comparisons of atypical antipsychotic medications with placebo or a typical antipsychotic medication or another atypical antipsychotic medication or the same atypical antipsychotic medication but at a lower dose .