چكيده لاتين :
The current study was performed to evaluate the cognitive improvements of the chronic
schizophrenic patients treated with risperidone in comparison with those treated with haloperidol according to
Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST).
Methods: In a double blind clinical trial, 65 patients with a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia were
randomly allocated into two groups. They received a 7 days washout and then during an eight weeks period one
group was treated with risperidone 4-8 mg daily while patients in the other group received haloperidol 10-15 mg
daily. Patients of the two groups were assessed by positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Brief
Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Patients’ cognitive abilities were assessed by WCST. Treatment side effects
were also evaluated in both groups.
Results: The overall PANSS score, the scores of the positive and negative subscales and BPRS scores
revealed that risperidone was significantly superior to haloperidol in the treatment of psychotic symptoms
(p<0.001). Risperidone caused less marked dyskinetic side effects in comparison with halopridol (p<0.001).
Haloperidol produced more symptoms of parkinsonism and tardive dykinesa than risperidone. The positive
cognitive effect of risperidone was significantly better than haloperidol at 4th (p<0.001) and 8th (p<0.001) weeks.
Conclusion: Apart from being more effective in improving positive and negative symptoms of psychotic
disorders, risperidone is also more beneficial in reducing the symptoms of cognitive impairment in chronic and
long standing form of schizophrenia. It also seems to be better tolerated than haloperidol.
Iranian Journal of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (IJPBS), Volume 2, Number 1, Spring and Summer 2008: 14-20.
