ReviewSchizophrenia bulletin2006
Medication-free research in early episode schizophrenia: evidence of long-term harm?
Review in Schizophrenia bulletin, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Antipsychotic medication for early episode schizophrenia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2011Pooled it
- A systematic review of the Soteria paradigm for the treatment of people diagnosed with schizophrenia.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2008Pooled it
- New Paradigms of Old Psychedelics in Schizophrenia.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Treating older adults with schizophrenia: challenges and opportunities.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2013Article
- How frequent is chronic multiyear delusional activity and recovery in schizophrenia: a 20-year multi-follow-up.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2010Article
- The evolution of drug development in schizophrenia: past issues and future opportunities.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2008Review
- Ethics of medication-free research in schizophrenia.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2006Article
- Implications for future research of "medication-free research in early episode schizophrenia".Schizophrenia bulletin · 2006Article
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This study investigates the question of whether short periods of medication-free research in early episode schizophrenia result in demonstrable long-term harm to human subjects. A meta-analysis of published quasi-experimental and random assignment studies that had a majority of first- or second-episode schizophrenia spectrum subjects, at least 1 initially unmedicated group, and a minimum of 1-year results was conducted. Only 6 studies, with 623 subjects, met inclusion criteria. The initially unmedicated groups showed a small, statistically nonsignificant long-term advantage (r = -0.09). Incorporating only random assignment studies into a composite effect size produced a similar near-zero result (r = 0.01). Good-quality evidence is inadequate to support a conclusion of long-term harm resulting from short-term postponement of medication in early episode schizophrenia research. A categorical prohibition against such research should be reconsidered.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.