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 .
Olanzapine versus placebo in adolescents with schizophrenia: a 6-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
OBJECTIVE To assess olanzapine 's  efficacy and tolerability in adolescents with schizophrenia . METHOD One hundred seven inpatient and outpatient adolescents ( olanzapine , n = 72 , mean age 16.1 years ; placebo , n = 35 , mean age 16.3 years ) with schizophrenia participated in this r and omized ( 2:1 ) , international , multisite , industry-sponsored trial . All patients met DSM-IV-TR criteria for schizophrenia , and they were treated for up to 6 weeks with flexible doses of olanzapine ( 2.5 - 20.0 mg/day ) or placebo . Last-observation-carried-forward mean changes from baseline to endpoint on the anchored version of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale for Children , Clinical Global Impression Scale-Severity of Illness , and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale ( PANSS ) were assessed . RESULTS More olanzapine-treated versus placebo-treated  patients completed the trial ( 68.1 % versus 42.9 % , p = .020 ) . Compared with placebo-treated patients , olanzapine-treated adolescents had significantly greater improvement in Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale for Children total ( p = .003 ) , Clinical Global Impressions Scale-Severity of Illness ( p = .004 ) , PANSS total ( p = .005 ) , and PANSS positive scores ( p = .002 ) . Olanzapine-treated patients gained significantly more baseline-to-endpoint weight ( 4.3 kg versus 0.1 kg , p < .001 ) . Significantly more olanzapine-treated versus placebo-treated patients gained 7 % or greater of their body weight at any time during treatment ( 45.8 % versus 14.7 % , p = .002 ) . Prolactin and triglyceride mean baseline-to-endpoint changes were significantly higher in olanzapine-treated versus placebo-treated adolescents . The incidence of treatment-emergent significant changes in fasting glucose , cholesterol , or triglycerides did not differ between the groups at endpoint , but significantly more olanzapine-treated patients had high triglycerides at any time during treatment . CONCLUSIONS Olanzapine-treated adolescents with schizophrenia experienced significant symptom improvement . Significant increases in weight , triglycerides , uric acid , most liver function tests , and prolactin were observed during olanzapine treatment . Clinical trial registration information-Olanzapine Versus Placebo in the Treatment of Adolescents With Schizophrenia . URL : http://www . clinical trials.gov . Unique identifier : NCT00051298
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 .