Olanzapine orally disintegrating tablet vs. risperidone oral solution in the treatment of acutely ag
July 3rd, 2008 | by admin |Olanzapine orally disintegrating tablet vs. risperidone oral solution in the treatment of acutely agitated psychotic patients.
OBJECTIVE: Efficacy and tolerability of risperidone oral solution (RIS-OS) and olanzapine orally disintegrating tablet (OLZ-ODT) were compared for the treatment of acute psychotic agitation. METHOD: During a 2-month period, patients scoring >/=15 on the Excited Component for Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS-EC) were assigned to treatment with OLZ-ODT (n=34) or RIS-OS (n=53) on psychiatric emergency situations, and assessed every 15 min. RESULTS: Two (OLZ-ODT and RIS-OS) by five (0-, 15-, 30-, 45- and 60-min time points) repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed only a significant main effect of time course on PANSS-EC (F=82.2, P<.0001). No differences in the number of patients receiving additional injection due to worsening were found (OLZ-ODT, 11.8%; RIS-OS, 9.4%). No differences in rate of extrapyramidal symptoms and patient satisfaction with assigned treatment were found. However, patients in the OLZ-ODT group recovered significantly more from tachycardia than those in the RIS-OS group (t=2.17, P=.03). CONCLUSION: OLZ-ODT and RIS-OS treatments yielded similar improvements in acutely agitated patients who accepted oral medication. However, on one physiological parameter (i.e., tachycardia) OLZ-ODT might be superior to RIS-OS. Physiological indicators may also be useful for measuring levels of agitation.
Hatta K, Kawabata T, Yoshida K, Hamakawa H, Wakejima T, Furuta K, Nakamura M, Hirata T, Usui C, Nakamura H, Sawa Y.
Department of Psychiatry, Juntendo University School of Medicine, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan.