Symptoms in neuroleptic-naive, first-episode schizophrenia: response to risperidone

Abstract

Analysis of the treatment response of different groups of patients with schizophrenia may further define the range of applications and specificity of novel therapies. Clinical trials of risperidone have focused on patients with exacerbations of chronic illness, largely having had multiple previous admissions and years of prior treatment (Chouinard et al 1993; Lindstrom and von Knorring 1994; Marder and Meibach 1994). Other investigators have reported the response to clozapine by first-episode, treatment-refractory patients with schizophrenia (Szymanski et al 1994); however, no prior studies document the response of first-episode, drug-naive schizophrenia patients to another novel antipsychotic, risperidone.