Bipolar Disorder

Studies from P.D. Harvey et al have provided new data on bipolar disorder

Bipolar Disorder Library Library Home This article was published in Mental Health Weekly Digest, which you can subscribe to online.

"Subjects were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatment sequences: risperidone-quetiapine or quetiapine-risperidone. Subjects in the risperidone-quetiapine sequence received 2 mg of risperidone with dinner and placebo with break-fast during period 1 and 100 mg of quetiapine with dinner and 100 mg with breakfast during period 2. Subjects in the quetiapine-risperidone sequence received the same treatments in reverse order. The 2 treatment periods were separated by a 6- to 14-day washout period. Cognitive function. including attention, working memory, declarative memory, processing speed, and executive functions, was measured before and after dosing. The Visual Analog Scale for Fatigue was also completed. The primary end-point was a neurocognitive composite score (NCS). The study was conducted from November 2004 through August 2005 Thirty subjects were randomly assigned: 28 took all doses of study medication and completed a baseline and at least 1 postbase-line assessment in each treatment. On the NCS, significantly better overall cognitive function was seen after risperidone than after quetiapine at each time point after dosing. Subjects performed significantly better after risperidone than after quetiapine (p < .05) on 9 of the 18 individual cognitive outcome measures and significantly better after quetiapine than after risperidone on 1 measure," wrote P.D. Harvey and colleagues.

The researchers concluded: "Sleeping or the need for sleep during the test days was reported in significantly more patients after receiving quetiapine than risperidone The results indicate that initiation of quetiapine treatment was associated with more immediate adverse cognitive effects and increased somnolence than risperidone treatment."

Harvey and colleagues published their study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (Cognitive functioning and acute sedative effects of risperidone and quetiapine in patients with stable bipolar I disorder: A randomized, double-blind, crossover study. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2007;68(8):1186-1194).

Additional information can be obtained by contacting L.M. Engelhart, Cordis Corp., Health Economics & Outcomes Research, 7 Powder Horn Dr., Warren, NJ 07059, USA.

The publisher of the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry can be contacted at: Physicians Postgraduate Press, PO Box 240008, Memphis, TN 38124, USA.

Keywords: United States, Warren, Bipolar Disorder, Manic-Depressive Illness, Psychiatry.

This article was prepared by Mental Health Weekly Digest editors from staff and other reports. Copyright 2007, Mental Health Weekly Digest via NewsRx.com.