Very Low-Dose Risperidone in First-Episode Psychosis: A Safe and Effective Way to Initiate Treatment

Table 2

Psychopathology and clinical improvement measures at baseline, week 4 (end of Phase I) and week 8 (end of Phase II).

Measure, mean (SD)		Total sample 𝑁=63	Fast responders *𝑁=37	Slow responders *𝑁=26
BPRS total	Baseline	54.8 (9.2)	55.1 (9.5)	54.4 (8.9)
	Week 4	41.4 (9.8)^a	35.9 (5.0)^a	49.2 (9.6)^a
	Week 8^†	39.1 (9.3)^b,c	35.7 (6.9)^c	43.9 (10.3)^b,c
BPRS psychotic subscale	Baseline	14.6 (2.9)	14.3 (2.9)	15.0 (2.8)
	Week 4	9.9 (4.0)^a	7.3 (1.4)^a	13.7 (3.4)
	Week 8^†	8.6 (3.5)^b,c	7.4 (2.6)^c	10.4 (3.9)^b,c
BPRS negative symptoms subscale	Baseline	6.3 (2.2)	6.1 (2.2)	6.6 (2.1)
	Week 4	5.7 (1.7)^a	5.3 (1.4)	6.2 (2.0)
	Week 8^†	5.7 (1.7)^c	5.1 (1.2)^c	6.5 (1.9)
CGI-S	Baseline	4.5 (0.7)	4.5 (0.8)	4.5 (0.7)
	Week 4	3.2 (1.1)^a	2.5 (0.6)^a	4.2 (0.8)^a
	Week 8^†	2.8 (1.1)^b,c	2.5 (1.0)^c	3.3 (1.1)^b,c
QLS	Baseline	58.8 (20.1)	57.9 (20.9)	60.0 (19.3)
	Week 4	68.3 (19.1)^a	75.1 (18.0)^a	58.5 (16.3)
	Week 8^†	67.9 (20.8)^c	74.8 (20.0)^c	58.1 (18.1)

*Responder status determined after 4 weeks of risperidone at a dose of 2 mg/day.
^†Week 8 scores are on an LOCF basis for all measures.
^aSignificant change from baseline to week 4, 𝑃≤.05.
^bSignificant change from week 4 to week 8, 𝑃≤.05.
^cSignificant change from baseline to week 8, 𝑃≤.05.
BPRS: the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, CGI-S: Clinical Global Impression Severity Scale, QLS: Quality of Life Scale.