SynthesisSchizophrenia bulletin2014
Efficacy of anti-inflammatory agents to improve symptoms in patients with schizophrenia: an update.
Synthesis in Schizophrenia bulletin, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 160 papers, 18 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.
Aspirin as Adjuvant Therapy in Young Psychotic Patients
A Randomized Controlled Trial of Adjunctive Siltuximab in Schizophrenia
Who cites it
160 citing papers in PubMed, 18 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 333 citations in OpenAlex.
- Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials of Anti-Inflammatory Agents in Early-Stage Psychotic Disorders.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of anti-inflammatory drug-assisted treatment of symptoms in patients with schizophrenia: a meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Adjunctive agents to antipsychotics in schizophrenia: a systematic umbrella review and recommendations for amino acids, hormonal therapies and anti-inflammatory drugs.BMJ mental health · 2023Pooled it
- Linking Inflammation, Aberrant Glutamate-Dopamine Interaction, and Post-synaptic Changes: Translational Relevance for Schizophrenia and Antipsychotic Treatment: a Systematic Review.Molecular neurobiology · 2022Pooled it
- Drugs with anti-inflammatory effects to improve outcome of traumatic brain injury: a meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2020Pooled it
- Interventions for prodromal stage of psychosis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- An update on the efficacy of anti-inflammatory agents for patients with schizophrenia: a meta-analysis.Psychological medicine · 2019Pooled it
- Acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin) for schizophrenia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019Pooled it
- Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in First-Episode Psychosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2019Pooled it
- Cytokines in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders: New data and an updated meta-analysis.Schizophrenia research · 2018Pooled it
- Adjunctive nutrients in first-episode psychosis: A systematic review of efficacy, tolerability and neurobiological mechanisms.Early intervention in psychiatry · 2018Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of Cerebrospinal Fluid Cytokine and Tryptophan Catabolite Alterations in Psychiatric Patients: Comparisons Between Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Depression.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2018Pooled it
- Significant Locus and Metabolic Genetic Correlations Revealed in Genome-Wide Association Study of Anorexia Nervosa.The American journal of psychiatry · 2017Pooled it
- Oxidative Stress and Inflammation in Early Onset First Episode Psychosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2017Pooled it
- Immune involvement in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia: a meta-analysis on postmortem brain studies.Translational psychiatry · 2017Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of blood cytokine network alterations in psychiatric patients: comparisons between schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.Molecular psychiatry · 2016Pooled it
- Effects of psychotropic drugs on inflammation: consequence or mediator of therapeutic effects in psychiatric treatment?Psychopharmacology · 2016Pooled it
- Pooled it
- A double-blind, randomized controlled study of the effects of celecoxib on clinical symptoms and cognitive impairment in patients with drug-naïve first episode schizophrenia: pharmacogenetic impact of cyclooxygenase-2 functional polymorphisms.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Trial
- Adjunctive Aspirin vs Placebo in Patients With Schizophrenia: Results of Two Randomized Controlled Trials.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2021Trial
100 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe inflammatory hypothesis of schizophrenia is not new, but recently it has regained interest because more data suggest a role of the immune system in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. If increased inflammation of the brain contributes to the symptoms of schizophrenia, reduction of the inflammatory status could improve the clinical picture. Lately, several trials have been conducted investigating the potential of anti-inflammatory agents to improve symptoms of schizophrenia. This study provides an update regarding the efficacy of anti-inflammatory agents on schizophrenic symptoms in clinical studies performed so far.
methodsAn electronic search was performed using PubMed, Embase, the National Institutes of Health web site http://www.clinicaltrials.gov, Cochrane Schizophrenia Group entries in PsiTri, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Only randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies that investigated clinical outcome were included.
resultsOur search yielded 26 double-blind randomized controlled trials that provided information on the efficacy on symptom severity of the following components: aspirin, celecoxib, davunetide, fatty acids such as eicosapentaenoic acids and docosahexaenoic acids, estrogens, minocycline, and N-acetylcysteine (NAC). Of these components, aspirin (mean weighted effect size [ES]: 0.3, n = 270, 95% CI: 0.06-0.537, I(2) = 0), estrogens (ES: 0.51, n = 262, 95% CI: 0.043-0.972, I(2) = 69%), and NAC (ES: 0.45, n = 140, 95% CI: 0.112-0.779) showed significant effects. Celecoxib, minocycline, davunetide, and fatty acids showed no significant effect.
conclusionThe results of aspirin addition to antipsychotic treatment seem promising, as does the addition of NAC and estrogens. These 3 agents are all very broadly active substances, and it has to be investigated if the beneficial effects on symptom severity are indeed mediated by their anti-inflammatory aspects.
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.