A clinical controlled study on schizophrenia treated with paliperidone-ER and risperidone

Objective To compare the efficacy and side effects of paliperidone-ER and risperidone in treating schizophrenia.Methods 60 patients of schizophrenia were treated with paliperidone-ER( n = 30) or risperidone (n =30) randomly,for 8 weeks. The efficacy was assessed with the positive and negative symptoms scale( PANSS), and the safety was assessed with treatment emergent symptoms scale before treatment and at the ends of week 1,2,4and 8 treatments,respectively. Results The PANSS scores of two groups were significantly decreased after the patients received the drug treatment. Paliperidone-ER group showed lower negative symptom score at week 4 and 8 than risperidone group. The efficacy of study group was significantly higher than that of control group. Conclusion Paliperidone-ER was effective and safe antipsychotic drug with significant improvement compared with risperidone in negative symptoms. Key words: Paliperidone;  Risperdal;  Schizophrenia