Figure 1. Outcomes in schizophrenia. Modified from reference 12: Awad AG, Voruganti LNP, Heslegrave RJ. A conceptual model of quality of life in schizophrenia: description and preliminary
clinical validation. Quai Life Res. 1997;6:21-26. Copyright © check details Kluwer … The appearance of the atypical antipsychotic drugs (aripiprazole, clozapine, olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, and ziprasidone) with different therapeutic and side-effect profiles promoted further studies and a greater interest in assessing the quality of life of schizophrenic patients (Table I). However, as stated by Corrigan et al,34 findings on this topic are contradictory; just Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical about half of the studies demonstrated that, in comparison with typical antipsychotics, atyplcals significantly Increase the quality of life of schizophrenia-spectrum patients. The inconsistency of the results may be due to the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical following factors: Table I. Quality of life Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in clinical trials with antipsychotic drugs. AMI, amisulpride; CAPS, conventional antipsychotics; CLZP, clozapine; HAL, haloperidol; FLU, flupenthixol; LA-RISP, long-acting risperidone; MLDL, Munich Quality of Life Dimensions; OLZ, olanzapine … The instruments employed: despite the fact that the QLS35
was specifically designed to assess the deficit syndrome of schizophrenia, most studies, including clinical Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical trials, have employed the QLS as a measure of quality of life, even thought its is a “clinician-rated” instrument and does
not incorporate the subjective views of patients themselves. Clinical trials do not always accurately reflect psychiatric Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical routine treatment of patients. Illness-related differences, treatment, and many other factors affecting participants may influence quality of life outcomes. Three naturalistic comparative studies have been recently published,36-38 comparing quality of life outcomes between atypical and typical antipsychotics in schizophrenic patients. Two of them36,37 Farnesyltransferase suggest that atypical antipsychotics have several advantages over typicals in quality of life outcomes, while the other demonstrates the opposite. The first36 was a cross-sectional study including 78 schizophrenic outpatients stabilized on risperidone or olanzapine, and 55 patients stabilized on typical antipsychotics. Quality of life was assessed employing the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire (Q-LES-Q)39 and the QLS35 at baseline. After adjusting for daily doses, duration of treatment, subjective tolerability, and adjuvant antidepressants, atypicals showed greater improvements in quality of life than typicals.