Stefan Leucht: a (meta)analysis of his life

Abstract

During our interview, Stefan Leucht describes a seminal moment in his professional life. “During my final year as a medical student, Rolf Engel lectured about meta-analysis and I immediately knew that this was what I wanted to do in research. My university chairman Hans Förstl told me not to, as this would not lead anywhere. But I did not listen to him, and published my first meta-analysis on antipsychotics, which got quoted 1047 times. And now he tells his students ‘do like Dr Leucht and believe in your ideas, irrespective of what other people think!’” This comment highlights not only Leucht's start in his pioneering career in evidence-based psychiatric medicine, but also his self-determination and belief that objective comparisons of psychiatric treatments are the correct thing to do. Second-generation antipsychotic drugs and short-term mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis of placebo-controlled randomised controlled trialsOverall, and for the main indication of schizophrenia, there is no evidence from randomised trials that antipsychotic drugs increase mortality. However, vulnerable populations (particularly patients with dementia) might be at increased risk. This meta-analysis could only address acute treatment effects leading to death in the short-term, and not long-term effects of antipsychotic drugs on mortality. Full-Text PDF Comparative efficacy and tolerability of 32 oral antipsychotics for the acute treatment of adults with multi-episode schizophrenia: a systematic review and network meta-analysisThere are some efficacy differences between antipsychotics, but most of them are gradual rather than discrete. Differences in side-effects are more marked. These findings will aid clinicians in balancing risks versus benefits of those drugs available in their countries. They should consider the importance of each outcome, the patients' medical problems, and preferences. Full-Text PDF Open Access