Eckmann 1984.
| Methods | Allocation: randomised. Blindness: double (raters not stated to be independent of treatment). Duration: 30 days. Design: parallel group. | |
| Participants | Diagnosis: acute paranoid‐hallucinatory schizophrenia (ICD 295.3). N=40. Sex: 24 M, 16 F. Age: mean ˜ 34 years (range 20‐45). Setting: hospital. Exclusion criteria: not specified. | |
| Interventions | 1. Benperidol: dose 6 or 12 mg/day (two received 9 mg/day from day 4 to 6, and one also from day 19 to 30). N=20.
2. Perphenazine: dose 12 or 24 mg/day. N=20. Additional medication: anticholinergics and sedating drugs (low‐potency antipsychotics, tranquillizers) as needed. |
|
| Outcomes | Global state: (clinical judgement).
Leaving the study early. Unable to use ‐ Mental state: BPRS, AMDP (no SD). Behaviour: NOSIE (no SD). Adverse effects: SAS (no mean, no SD). |
|
| Notes | Unpublished manuscript. | |
| Risk of bias | ||
| Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
| Adequate sequence generation? | Unclear risk | Quote: "randomisiert zugeteilt" (English: randomly allocated). No further details. |
| Allocation concealment? | Unclear risk | Method not described. |
| Blinding? All outcomes | Unclear risk | Quote: "double‐blind study". Oral liquid medication. No further details. |
| Incomplete outcome data addressed? All outcomes | Unclear risk | The report does not indicate whether participants left the study early. It only says that there were 40 participants. It could be that these were only the study completers. |
| Free of selective reporting? | High risk | The study is only available as an unpublished manuscript. Means and standard deviations of rating scale results were often not indicated. |
| Free of other bias? | Low risk | There was no other clear source of bias. |
General abbreviations EPS ‐ Extrapyramidal side effects. F ‐ females M ‐ males mg = milligram N = number SD = standard deviation
Diagnostic tools ICD‐9 ‐ International Classification of Diseases, ninth revision.
Mental state scales AMDP ‐ Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Methodik und Dokumentation in der Psychiatrie BPRS ‐ Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale
Behaviour scales NOSIE ‐ Nurses Observational Scale of Inpatients Evaluation
Side effect scales SAS ‐ Simpson and Angus Scale