Methods | Allocation: randomised. Blindness: double. Duration: 8 weeks. |
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Participants | Diagnosis: (CCMD-3) schizophrenia. N=63. Age: mean clozapine=30 years, mean quetiapine=28 years. Gender: not reported. Setting: in- and outpatient. History: duration ill mean clozapine=0.63 years, mean quetiapine=0.65 years, age at onset not reported |
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Interventions |
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Outcomes | Global state: CGI. Mental State: PANSS total score. Adverse effects: at least one adverse effect, cardiac effects (palpitation), extrapyramidal side effects (akathisia, rigor, tremor), sedation, weight gain, white blood cell count Unable to use: Leaving the study early due to adverse events (no data). Cardiac effects (no data). |
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Notes | ||
Risk of bias | ||
Item | Authors’ judgement | Description |
Adequate sequence generation? | Unclear | Random, no further details. |
Allocation concealment? | Unclear | No further details. |
Blinding? All outcomes |
Unclear | Double, probably identical capsules. Whether blinding was successful has not been examined, but both compounds differ quite substantially in side-effects. This can be a problem for blinding Objective outcomes such as laboratory measures or death are unlikely to have been much affected by problems of blinding. This latter, probably leads a low risk of bias |
Incomplete outcome data addressed? All outcomes |
Unclear | The authors only mention two participants leaving the study early due to adverse events in the clozapine group. There is some doubt whether all data on leaving the study early have been presented |
Free of selective reporting? | Yes | We did not find evidence for selective reporting. |
Free of other bias? | Unclear | There were no data on pre study medication, therefore baseline imbalance can not be excluded |