Is There a Treatment for Negative Symptoms in Schizophrenia Patients?
In this article we report on a meta-analysis of the published studies of amisulpride conducted in order to demonstrate efficacy on primary negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Four placebo-controlled studies were conducted in patients with predominantly negative symptoms. In all studies a significant improvement was observed on the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) in the amisulpride groups (50 300 mg daily) as compared to placebo. The improvement on the SANS was not accompanied by a simultaneous improvement on the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) or a decrease in extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) in three of the four studies, indicating a genuine effect on primary negative symptoms. The overall analysis shows that the improvement on the SANS was accompanied by a small simultaneous improvement on the SAPS. Moreover, in the studies where depressive symptoms were measured, a significant improvement was also shown in favor of amisulpride. However, as the
