Effects of Haloperidol and Risperidone on the Subjective Quality of Life in Stable Chronic Schizophrenic Patients

Min, Sung Kil; Park, Jin Kyun; Suh, Shin Young; Kim, Dong Kee

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to compare the effects of haloperidol and risperidone on the quality of life in chronic schizophrenic patients and to identify how the quality of life is related with the severity of psychopathology and drug side effects.
METHODS
The study sample was composed of 38 ambulatory patients on haloperidol 1.5-4.5mg/day and 33 patients on risperidone 1-4mg/day for more than 2 years. They were physically healthy and had diagnoses of chronic undifferentiated or residual type of schizophrenia according to the criteria of DSM-IV. Those who had other comorbid mental disorders were excluded. For the assessment of the quality of life(QOL), the Korean version of WHOQOL was used. The severity of psychotic symptoms was evaluated by BPRS, and the side effects of the medication was evaluated by UKU Side Effects Rating Scales.
RESULTS
The results showed that sex, age, education level, marital states, duration of antipsychotic medication and BPRS scores were not significantly different between the haloperidol group and risperidone group. But, the UKU Side Effects Rating Scales scores in the haloperidol group were significantly higher than those in the risperidone group. The mean score of the WHOQOL-BREF in the risperidone group was a little higher than that in the haloperidol group, and in the same way the 3 domain scores of the WHOQOL-BREF(physical, psychological, environmental domains) in the risperidone group was a little higher than those in the haloperidol group. However, the differences were not statistically significant between the two groups. There was a negative correlation between total QOL score and total BPRS scores, and both between BPRS item of tension and the total QOL score and between depressive mood and total QOL score. But, there was no correlation between total QOL score and UKU side effect scores.
CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that, if schizophrenia has once become chronic, the quality of life is not significantly influenced by the kind of antipsychotic drugs in the maintenance dose, and that the quality of life is correlated with a severity of the symptoms, especially tension and depressive mood.