Finding optimal efficacious doses of antipsychotics when treating delusional infestation

Delusional infestation (DI) can be treated effectively with antipsychotic medication. Amisulpride has recently been identified as the most efficacious antipsychotic. While in practice, small doses of any chosen antipsychotic are usually used for the treatment of DI, little is known about the optimal target doses for different antipsychotics. We aimed to establish optimal target doses for antipsychotics for the treatment of DI. We extracted anonymized data from patients with DI who presented to specialist clinics in London and Liverpool. We recorded the doses of antipsychotics used at each clinic appointment and correlated them with outcomes as measured with Clinical Global Impression – Severity (CGI-S) scores. The association between dosage and CGI scores was analysed by means of a repeated-measures Anova to identify optimal target doses for all antipsychotics used. We analysed the data of 453 patients with DI. The antipsychotics used were amisulpride, aripiprazole, olanzapine, quetiapine and risperidone. Full results will be available by the time of the presentation. Optimal target doses for five antipsychotics are now available for the treatment of DI.

Abstract from Crossref