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May 3rd, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda THURSDAY, May 3 (HealthDay News) — A new study finds that
antipsychotic drugs can help many people with schizophrenia, cutting
patients’ risk of relapse by 60 percent.
The study, involving data stretching back 50 years, also found that
schizophrenia patients who take antipsychotics are much less likely to be
hospitalized and may behave less aggressively and have a better quality of
life than patients who don’t take the drugs.
One expert said the finding mirrors what he and other professionals
have experienced.
The data “is consistent with what we see in clinical practice — that
we are very well able to keep our patients functioning better and out of
the hospital when they consistently take these medications,” said Dr.
Roberto Estrada, attending psychiatrist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York
City.
The findings are published in the May 3 online edition of The
Lancet.
In the study, German researchers combed through findings from 65
clinical trials reported in 116 articles published between 1959 and 2011.
The trials included nearly 6,500 patients with schizophrenia.
After one year, relapse rates were 27 percent among patients who took
antipsychotic drugs and 64 percent among those who took an inactive
placebo, the review found. Rates of hospital readmission were 10 percent
for patients who took antipsychotics and 26 percent for those who took a
placebo.
Evidence from five studies indicated that patients who took
antipsychotic drugs behaved less aggressively, and findings from three
studies suggested that they have a better quality of life.
Antipsychotic drugs are the main type of treatment for people with
schizophrenia, but they can cause serious side effects. Indeed, the
investigators found that patients who took antipsychotic drugs had more
negative side effects than those who took a placebo, including movement
disorders (16 percent versus 9 percent), sedation (13 percent versus 9
percent), and weight gain (10 percent versus 6 percent).
Antipsychotic medications can also be expensive, the authors noted. In
2010, about $18.5 billion was spent worldwide on antipsychotic drugs,
according to a journal news release.
Estrada agreed that the drugs have their drawbacks. “The cost and
adverse effects associated with antipsychotics remain major impediments to
achieving more successful treatment of schizophrenia,” he said. “Further
work needs to be done to develop more effective treatments for
schizophrenia that are better-tolerated and thus likely to improve
patients’ adherence to taking these medications.”
Still, the take-home message from the new study is clear, the study
authors said.
“Antipsychotic maintenance treatment substantially reduces relapse risk
in all patients with schizophrenia for up to 2 years of follow-up,” Stefan
Leucht from the Technical University of Munich, and colleagues, said in a
journal news release “The effect was robust in important subgroups such as
patients who had only one episode, those in remission,” he added.
Benefits seemed to occur regardless of whether patients took older or
newer forms of antipsychotic drugs, Leucht added. However, for many
patients “the drugs seemed to lose their effectiveness with time,” he
said.
Another expert said that, while the medications are not perfect, they
have eased the suffering of many patients.
“This study confirms clinical observations going back to the early
1950s — that is, antipsychotic drugs are effective in reducing the
symptoms associated with schizophrenia. The decreased number of patients
in long-term mental health facilities, such as state mental hospitals, is
a testimonial to this,” said Dr. Norman Sussman, a psychiatrist at NYU
Langone Medical Center and professor at the NYU School of Medicine in New
York City.
“Hopefully, even better treatments will emerge in the near future that
have fewer adverse effects and more robust therapeutic impact on cognition
and social functioning,” Sussman said.
More information
The U.S. National Institute of Mental Health has more about schizophrenia.
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