Comparison of efficacy and safety of paliperidone and ziprasidone in the treatment of schizophrenia

Objective To compare the clinical efficacy and safety of paliperidone and ziprasidone in patients with schizophrenia.Methods A total of 96 patients with schizophrenia according to the diagnostic standards of DSM-Ⅳ were enrolled in the study.Patients were randomly divided into paliperidone group(n=48)and ziprasidone group(n=48),they were treated for 8 weeks.All the patients were assessed with Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale(PANSS),Personal and Social Function Scale(PSP),Rating Scale for Extrapyramidal Side Effects(RSESE)at baseline and 8 weeks.Electrocardiogram(ECG),fasting blood glucose,and blood prolactin were also examined.Results 46 patients in the paliperidone group and 45 patients in the ziprasidone group completed the study.There was no significant difference in PANSS scores,the rate of response and the rate of adverse events between the two groups(P0.05).However,paliperidone grouop had higher PSP scores than ziprasidone group(P0.01).Conclusion The overall clinical efficacy rates and safety of paliperidone are similar to ziprasidone,however,paliperidone is greatly superior to ziprasidone in improvement of social function.