Olanzapine in the Treatment of Schizophrenia: An Open-Label Trial in Kuwait

Abstract

Olanzapine is a potential new "atypical" antipsychotic agent, which has been suggested to possess a superior clinical profile in the treatment of schizophrenia. The current prospective open-label trial was conducted on 10 male patients who met the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia and had some residual symptoms (i.e., a global score of at least 24 on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for schizophrenia, PANSS; Kay, Fiszbein, & Opler, 1987) for schizophrenia. After a washout period from previous medications (2-14 days), patients received olanzapine treatment (10-20 mg/day) dose for a 13-week period. Paired comparison of baseline and 13 weeks endpoints scores showed significant (p = .0001) improvement overtime for the negative symptoms subscale and global PANSS scores, and for the positive and general psychopathology subscale scores. Maximum efficacy of olanzapine was observed in the reduction of negative symptoms. There was no liver enzyme elevation or any other adverse serum chemistry changes resulted after treatment. There was no significant treatment-emergent EPS or dyskinetic symptoms side-effects observed. These findings support the expanded use of olanzapine in the treatment of patients with predominant negative symptoms of schizophrenia