Effectiveness of spironolactone on schizophrenia symptoms: A double-blind randomized clinical trial

Abstract

Introduction: Schizophrenia is a mental disorder in which the facts surrounding a person are interpreted as abnormal. The treatment aims to reduce symptoms and the possibility of disease recurrence. Aim: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of spironolactone on schizophrenia symptoms. Method: In this double-blind analytical and clinical study, 44 patients were randomly divided into two groups. The study was carried out in Quds Hospital and centers for psychiatric patients in Sanandaj city in 2019 and 2020. The number of patients decreased to 32 due to drug side effects and unwillingness to continue treatment. The instrument used was the scale test of positive and negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Datum were analyzed using chi-square and ANOVA with repeated measurements and independent t-tests by SPSS-23 software. Results: The results showed that out of 44 patients studied, 37 (84.1%) were men and 7 (15.9%) were women. The imbalance was due to the small sample size. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of sex distribution, literacy level, marital status, employment history, and background medication use (P>0.05). In addition, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of reducing negative symptoms (P=0.666), positive symptoms (P=0.748) and general symptoms (P=0.342). Conclusion: According to the finding, spironolactone has no significant effect on reducing negative, positive, and general symptoms. Therefore, it is suggested to carry out more studies using this drug (by removing the limitations of this study) and other drugs.