Conditions: Schizophrenia
Keywords: Schizophrenia Anticonvulsants Valproic Acid Valproate
Allocation: NON_RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 20
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
The purpose of this research study is to analyze the effectiveness and tolerability of a medication, valproate ( Depakote and Depakote ER), in individuals age 50 years and older who have schizophrenia.

Detailed description:
It is known that up to 30% of individuals with schizophrenia continue to have symptoms even when treated with current FDA-approved medications intended to treat their schizophrenia. Anticonvulsant medications such as valproate (Depakote and Depakote ER) are known to be effective for related conditions such as bipolar disorder (manic depressive illness), and are also used by some physicians in clinical settings in combination with antipsychotic medications to treat symptoms of schizophrenia. Currently Depakote and Depakote ER are approved by the FDA to treat bipolar disorder and to treat seizure disorder. This study will test to see if Depakote and Depakote ER may improve symptoms of schizophrenia as well when added to antipsychotic medications.

Arms:
arm 1: All participants received open-label, add-on valproate.

Interventions: intervention 1: Valproate
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Enrolled individuals received adjunctive, open-label valproate semisodium, initially started as valproate semisodium delayed -release 250 mg at bedtime for two weeks, then changed to valproate semisodium extended- release 500 mg at bedtime. Medication was administered on an outpatient/ambulatory basis, and adjusted as tolerated to target serum levels of 50-100 µg/mL. In cases where sedation or other side effects occurred, dosage was reduced. Valproate semisodium was prescribed in a single dose at bedtime.

Protocol document: