A comparative study of paliperidone palmitate injections and risperidone on long-term effects and prognosis for the first-episode schizophrenic patients

Objective To value the efficacy and safety of long-acting paliperidone palmitate injection and risperidone on the first episode schizophrenia patients. Methods One hundred and twenty first-episode patients with schizophrenia (DSM-Ⅳ criteria) were enrolled and randomized to paliperidone palmitate injection group (paliperidone group) and resperidone group (risperidone group). Patients were treated for 12 months. The efficiency, safety and social functions degrees of the two groups were assessed by using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSP) and Treatment Emergent Symptom Scale (TESS) at baseline and 3, 6, 9 and 12 months after the treatment. Further, the remission rates and recurrence rates in the two groups were compared. Results At the endpoint of the study, the remission rate in paliperidone group (69.1%,38/55) were higher than in risperidone group (40.0%,20/50; χ2=2.510, P=0.041). The PANSS total scores and subscores were significantly decreased and PSP score was significantly increased after treatment compared to basline. At 12 months after treatment, PANSS total score and subscores (F=4.812, 5.814, 4.316, all P<0.05) and PSP scores in paliperidone group were significantly different with that in risperidone group (76.9±7.2 vs. 57.4±5.5, F=4.612, P<0.05). There was no significant difference in treatment emergent symptoms in the two groups. Conclusions Long-acting paliperidone palmitate injection in the treatment of the patients with schizophrenia could obviously improve the remission rate. Key words: Schizophrenia; Treatment outcome; Paliperidone palmitate; Risperidone Fund program: Wenzhou Science and Technology Bureall(Y20140426)