| Methods |
Design: three group parallel trial
Purpose: examine the effect of discontinuing medication with perphenazine in schizophrenia |
| Participants |
Patients: chronic schizophrenic in‐patients on perphenazine
Baseline comparability: for age and length of hospital stay |
| Interventions |
Placebo: liquid solution with no perphenazine (content NS)
Untreated: no liquid solution (observational group)
Experimental: liquid solution with perphenazine
(Co‐intervention: no other psychotropic drugs allowed) |
| Outcomes |
Number of patients with major relapse: need for known active medication
Minor relapse: deterioration on symptom scales (psychiatric rating scale & Fergus Falls Behaviour Rating Scale) |
| Notes |
|
| Risk of bias |
| Bias |
Authors' judgement |
Support for judgement |
| Blinding?
Treatment provider |
Low risk |
'...the trial was blind in that only the pharmacist knew which bottles were active' |
| Incomplete outcome data addressed?
All outcomes |
High risk |
|
| Free of selective reporting? |
Unclear risk |
No protocol available |
| Free of other bias? |
Low risk |
|
| No signs of variance inequality or skewness? |
Unclear risk |
Not relevant (binary outcome) |
| Trial size > 49? |
High risk |
N = 26 |
| Clearly concealed allocation + trial size > 49 + drop‐out max 15% |
High risk |
Trial size < 49 |
