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The effect of age on the pharmacological management of ambulatory patients treated with depot neuroleptic medications for schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders
Author(s) -
Mamo David C.,
Sweet Robert A.,
Roy Chengappa K. N.,
Reddy Ravinder R.,
Jeste Dilip V.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.740
Subject(s) - tardive dyskinesia , anticholinergic , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , parkinsonism , ambulatory , psychosis , medicine , psychiatry , haloperidol , fluphenazine , dyskinesia , psychology , pediatrics , anesthesia , dopamine , disease , parkinson's disease
Background Cross‐sectional studies indicate that, in comparison to younger patients, older schizophrenic patients have a higher risk for neuroleptic‐induced Parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia (TD). It has been suggested, therefore, that older patients with schizophrenia could be maintained on reduced doses of conventional neuroleptics. Method We examined the effect of age on psychopharmacological management in a naturalistic study of a group of 165 patients with a clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia or a related psychotic disorder (age range=21–84 years; subjects ≥1;45 years n =86) treated with either haloperidol decanoate or fluphenazine decanoate. Results Increasing age was not correlated with total daily dose of neuroleptics or anticholinergic medication. However, a modest negative correlation of age with daily neuroleptic dose was found in patients aged 45 years and older. Conclusion The results of this study highlight the need for prospective assessments of depot neuroleptic dose requirements in older patients suffering from primary psychotic disorders. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.