Schizophrenia, Substance Use Disorders
Conditions
Brief summary
The lifetime of substance use disorders in schizophrenia is close to 50%. Substance abuse in schizophrenia is associated with negative consequences. Unfortunately, there no clear guidelines for the pharmacological treatment of this dual diagnosis population. Preliminary results suggest that second-generation antipsychotic drugs (mainly clozapine) may relieve drug cravings in schizophrenia. We performed a 12-week pilot study to evaluate the impact of quetiapine, a second-generation antipsychotic, on substance abuse parameters, psychiatric symptoms and side effects in patients schizophrenia and comorbid substance use disorders. Our expectation was a 20 % decrease in drug cravings from baseline to end-point.
Interventions
Sponsors
AstraZeneca
Université de Montréal
Study design
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Masking
NONE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 55 Years
Inclusion criteria
* Patients with as schizophrenia spectrum disorder * Patients with a comorbid substance use disorder
Exclusion criteria
* Patients already on quetiapine or clozapine * Patients hospitalized or acutely ill * Total score lower than 65 on the PANSS * Pregnancy * Female subjects of childbearing potential without adequate contraception * Abnormal liver function (hepatic enzymes more than 3 times the upper normal limits) * Any clinically meaningful unstable renal, hepatic, cardiovascular, respiratory, cerebrovascular disease or other serious, progressive physical disease.
Countries
Canada
Outcome results
None listed