Boyer 1987.
Methods | Allocation: randomised. Blindness: not stated. Duration: 3 weeks washout plus 6 weeks treatment period. Setting: not stated. Design: parallel. |
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Participants | Diagnosis: schizophrenia (DSM‐III). N = 62. Age: 21‐53 years old. Sex: 43 men, 19 women. Duration ill: mean˜12.3 years, SD˜4.7 years. Inclusion criteria: duration ill between 1 to 20 years; absence of marked positive symptoms; score >7 on DSAS. Exclusion criteria: not received antipsychotics in previous month. |
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Interventions | 1. Fluphenazine: 2 mg to 12 mg/day. N = 28. 2. Amisulpride: 50 mg to 300 mg/day. N = 34. |
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Outcomes | Mental state: BPRS.* Leaving the study early. Unable to use ‐ Mental state: DSAS (not a validated scale). Behaviour: NOSIE (no SD reported). Adverse effects: physiological measures, CHESS (no data reported). |
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Notes | * The published papers clearly report SD as measure of variance but these seem to be SE and we treat them as such. | |
Risk of bias | ||
Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Quote: "After a 3‐week washout period, participants were randomly assigned" ‐ no further details. (p.296). |
Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Not stated. |
Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes | Unclear risk | Double‐blind. |
Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes | Unclear risk | Not stated. |
Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | High risk | Five participants did not complete ratings for various BPRS components. |
Selective reporting (reporting bias) | High risk | Did not report complete data for NOSIE and CHESS. |
Other bias | Unclear risk | None obvious. |