At the time of this review , seven AAPs were available in Canada : aripiprazole clozapine olanzapine paliperidone quetiapine risperidone ziprasidone
Schizophrenia is a mental illness that requires lifelong treatment and is associated with symptoms that include hallucinations , delusions , cognitive impairment , disorganized thoughts , social withdrawal , and low motivation .
Antipsychotic medications are effective at relieving the symptoms of schizophrenia , and they form the foundation of treatment .
Efficacy and safety of aripiprazole vs. haloperidol for long-term maintenance treatment following acute relapse of schizophrenia.
Aripiprazole is a novel atypical antipsychotic for the treatment of schizophrenia . It is a D2 receptor partial agonist with partial agonist activity at 5-HT1A receptors and antagonist activity at 5-HT2A receptors . The long-term efficacy and safety of aripiprazole ( 30 mg/d ) relative to haloperidol ( 10 mg/d ) were investigated in two 52-wk , r and omized , double-blind , multicentre studies ( using similar protocol s which were prospect ively identified to be pooled for analysis ) in 1294 patients in acute relapse with a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia and who had previously responded to antipsychotic medications .  Aripiprazole demonstrated long-term efficacy that was comparable or superior to haloperidol across all symptoms measures , including significantly greater improvements for PANSS negative subscale scores and MADRS total score ( p<0.05 ) . The time to discontinuation for any reason was significantly greater with aripiprazole than with haloperidol ( p=0.0001 ) . Time to discontinuation due to adverse events or lack of efficacy was significantly greater with aripiprazole than with haloperidol ( p=0.0001 ) . Aripiprazole was associated with significantly lower scores on all extrapyramidal symptoms assessment s than haloperidol ( p<0.001 ) . In summary , aripiprazole demonstrated efficacy equivalent or superior to haloperidol with associated benefits for safety and tolerability .  Aripiprazole represents a promising new option for the long-term treatment of schizophrenia
At the time of this review , seven AAPs were available in Canada : aripiprazole clozapine olanzapine paliperidone quetiapine risperidone ziprasidone
Schizophrenia is a mental illness that requires lifelong treatment and is associated with symptoms that include hallucinations , delusions , cognitive impairment , disorganized thoughts , social withdrawal , and low motivation .
Antipsychotic medications are effective at relieving the symptoms of schizophrenia , and they form the foundation of treatment .