A randomized trial of clozaphine and domestic quetiapine for chronic schizophrenic patients

OBJECTIVE To compare the efficacy and safety of clozapine and quetiapine in treating chronic schizophrenic patients.METHODS Patients who met CCMD-3 criteria for chronic schizophrenia were randomly assigned into two group: quetiapine group(n=42) and clozapine group(n=41).The range of the two experiment drugs was 200~600mg/d,the treatment duration was 12 weeks.The PANSS,BPRS,TESS and related lab tests were employed for assessing the effectiveness and side effects. RESULTS At the end of treatments,the scores of PANSS and BPRS in both treatment groups decreased significantly compared with baseline(P0.01),and the decreasing rates on PANSS were(63.4±24.7)% in quetiapine group and (64.7±23.1) % in clozapine group.Total cl inical effective rates were 68.1% in quetiapine group and 69.6% in clozapine group,which was no significant difference between two groups.However,patients in quetiapine group reported much fewer side effects than those in clozapine group,especially in the items of reduced activities,constipation,sialorrhea,dizziness and low blood pressure on TESS (P0.01 or P0.05).CONCLUSION Qutiapine has similar efficacy to clozapine,but has less side effects.Qutiapine is an effective antipsychotic drug with fewer side effects,and significant to rehabilitation and antideterioration of chronic schizophrenic patients.