Prodopaminergic Drugs for Treating the Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Journal article

Prodopaminergic Drugs for Treating the Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.

  • Sabe M From the Division of Adult Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Kirschner M Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
  • Kaiser S From the Division of Adult Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland.
  • 2019-11-06
Published in:
  • Journal of clinical psychopharmacology. - 2019
English BACKGROUND
The negative symptoms of schizophrenia pose a heavy burden on patients and relatives and represent an unmet therapeutic need. The observed association of negative symptoms with impaired reward system function has stimulated research on prodopaminergic agents as potential adjunctive treatments.


METHODS
We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of published randomized controlled trials of amphetamine, methylphenidate, modafinil, armodafinil, lisdexamphetamine, L-dopa, levodopa, bromocriptine, cabergoline, quinagolide, lisuride, pergolide, apomorphine, ropinirole, pramipexole, piribedil, and rotigotine augmentation in schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.Medline, EMBASE, and several other databases as well as trial registries were searched for placebo-controlled trials.


RESULTS
Ten randomized controlled trials were included in the meta-analysis, 6 trials on modafinil, 2 on armodafinil, 1 on L-dopa, and 1 on pramipexole. Overall, prodopaminergic agents did not significantly reduce negative symptoms. Restricting the analysis to studies requiring a minimum threshold for negative symptom severity, modafinil/armodafinil showed a significant but small effect on negative symptoms. A subset of studies allowed for calculating specific effects for the negative symptom dimensions diminished expression and amotivation, but no significant effect was found. Prodopaminergic agents did not increase positive symptom scores.


CONCLUSIONS
The currently available evidence does not allow for formulating recommendations for the use of prodopaminergic agents for the treatment of negative symptoms. Nevertheless, the observed improvement in studies defining a minimum threshold for negative symptom severity in the absence of an increase in positive symptoms clearly supports further research on these agents.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.ch/global/documents/100594
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