Trial reportEuropean archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience2021
Reducing antipsychotic drugs in stable patients with chronic schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder: a randomized controlled pilot trial.
Trial report in European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02307396 (Evaluation of the Necessity of Long-term Pharmacological Treatment With Antipsychotics for the Prevention of Relapse in Long-term Stabilized Schizophrenic Patients), which is not on this map. Cited by 21 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.
Evaluation of the Necessity of Long-term Pharmacological Treatment With Antipsychotics for the Prevention of Relapse in Long-term Stabilized Schizophrenic Patients: a Randomized, Single-blind, Longitudinal Trial
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Risk Factors for Psychotic Relapse After Dose Reduction or Discontinuation of Antipsychotics in Patients With Chronic Schizophrenia. A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2023Pooled it
- Antipsychotic dose reduction compared to dose continuation for people with schizophrenia.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Guided antipsychotic reduction to reach minimum effective dose (GARMED) in patients with remitted psychosis: a 2-year randomized controlled trial with a naturalistic cohort.Psychological medicine · 2023Trial
- Dose-tapering trajectories in patients with remitted psychosis undergoing guided antipsychotic reduction to reach minimum effective dose.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2023Trial
- A Scoping Review of Methods, Guidelines, and Protocols Used for Dose Reduction or Discontinuation of Antipsychotic Medication in People Affected by Psychotic Disorders.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Article
- Clozapine Dose Reduction in Remitted Patients With Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia: A Case Series.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2026Article
- Article
- Helping people to discontinue antipsychotics: if, when and how.Schizophrenia (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2025Review
- Strategic and tactic use of antipsychotic medications in schizophrenia: a perspective on current prescription practice.Discover mental health · 2025Review
- NEP1-40 Regulates the Development of Hippocampal Neural Stem Cells in Schizophrenic Mice.Current medical science · 2025Article
- Large Language Model–Assisted Risk-of-Bias Assessment in Randomized Controlled Trials Using the Revised Risk-of-Bias Tool: Evaluation Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Effect of comprehensive intervention model based on drug-psychology-society-skills on medication compliance and cognitive ability of chronic schizophrenia patients.World journal of psychiatry · 2024Article
- Using in silico methods to determine optimal tapering regimens for decanoate-based long-acting injectable psychosis drugs.Therapeutic advances in psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Time-dependent effect of antipsychotic discontinuation and dose reduction on social functioning and subjective quality of life-a multilevel meta-analysis.EClinicalMedicine · 2023Article
- Review
- Implementing gradual, hyperbolic tapering of long-acting injectable antipsychotics by prolonging the inter-dose interval: anTherapeutic advances in psychopharmacology · 2023Review
- Polypharmacy Management of Antipsychotics in Patients with Schizophrenia.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Review
- An international clozapine titration guideline to increase its safety and move forward on the route started by German-speaking psychiatrists in the 1960s.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2022Article
- A Method for Tapering Antipsychotic Treatment That May Minimize the Risk of Relapse.Schizophrenia bulletin · 2021Article
- Inflammatory processes linked to major depression and schizophrenic disorders and the effects of polypharmacy in psychiatry: evidence from a longitudinal study of 279 patients under therapy.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2021Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
As the course of schizophrenic disorders is often chronic, treatment guidelines recommend continuous maintenance treatment to prevent relapses, but antipsychotic drugs can cause many side effects. It, therefore, seems reasonable to try to reduce doses in stable phases of the illness or even try to stop medication. We conducted a 26 weeks, randomized, rater blind, feasibility study to examine individualized antipsychotic dose reduction versus continuous maintenance treatment (Register Number: NCT02307396). We included chronic, adult patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, who were treated with any antipsychotic drug except clozapine, who had not been hospitalized in the last 3 years and who were in symptomatic remission at baseline. The primary outcome was relapse of positive symptoms. Symptom severity, social functioning and side effects were also examined as secondary outcomes. 20 patients were randomized. Relapse rates in the two groups were not significantly different. No patient had to be hospitalized. One patient in the control group dropped out. The mean reduction of antipsychotic dose in the individualized dose-reduction group was 42%, however only one patient discontinued drug completely. There were no significant differences in efficacy or safety outcomes. This randomized trial provides evidence, that reduction of antipsychotic medication in chronic stable schizophrenic patients may be feasible. The results need to be confirmed in a larger trial with a longer follow-up period.
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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.