THURSDAY, July 3 (HealthDay News) -- Taking prescription
medications can help reduce violent behavior in some schizophrenia
patients, Duke researchers report.
It included 1,445 schizophrenia patients randomly selected to
receive one of five antipsychotic medications: olanzapine,
perphenanize, quetiapine, risperidone or ziprasidone.
Patient violence declined significantly when patients took their
medications as prescribed, but only among patients whose prior risk
for violence could be linked to psychotic problems. There was
little or no improvement in a subgroup of patients with a history
of childhood conduct problems who were more likely to be violent at
the start of the study.
The study also found that older antipsychotics are as effective
as newer drugs in reducing violent behavior.
"Contrary to the expectations of many clinicians and some
research, this study found no benefit for newer medications over an
older medication in reducing the risk for violence over the
six-month study period," study author Jeffrey Swanson, a professor
in psychiatry and behavioral sciences, said in a prepared
statement. "In fact, one of the newer medications, quetiapine,
performed worse than the first-generation drug perphenanize."
The findings were published in the July issue of the
British Journal of Psychiatry.
"This is the first large randomized controlled study to compare
the effectiveness of several commonly prescribed medications for
schizophrenia on reducing community violence," Swanson said.
"Serious violent behavior is not frequent among people with
schizophrenia, but when it does occur, the results can be costly
and tragic."
"In the past, we've not understood very well why a small
proportion of patients with schizophrenia become seriously violent,
while most do not -- and why medication seems to prevent violent
behavior in some and not others," study co-author Marvin Swartz, a
professor of psychiatry, said in a prepared statement.
"These findings tell us that people with schizophrenia may
behave violently for reasons not directly related to their mental
illness. If that's the case, then treatment for psychotic symptoms
alone may not eliminate the risk of violence," Swartz said.
More information
The National Institute of Mental Health has more about
schizophrenia.
