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Prediction of the significance in the improvement of depression symptoms of amisulpride in the treatment of schizophrenia: an 8-week case-control study.

BACKGROUND
Aminosulpiride is a benzamide used to treat acute or chronic schizophrenia Some researchers believe that early improvement of depression symptoms in patients has a certain predictive effect on the recovery of symptoms after drug treatment for schizophrenia. This study is aimed to explore whether the improvement of depression symptoms is a predictive factor for the amelioration of the schizophrenia symptoms by amisulpride treatment.


METHODS
A total of 383 patients with schizophrenia admitted to 15 hospitals in Fujian and Zhejiang from July 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019 were included in the study. The patients were treated with amisulpride tablets with a dose strategy of 200-1,200 mg/d for 8 weeks. The Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) was used as the criteria to evaluate the treatment effect, including criterion A and criterion B. After the course of treatment, the improvement of depression symptoms was compared between the remission group and the non-remission group. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate predictors of symptom relief in schizophrenia patients treated with amisulpride.


RESULTS
Of the 383 subjects with schizophrenia, 303 completed the 8-week treatment with amisulpride, and 244 (80.53%) achieved remission of symptoms after the treatment, satisfying criterion A. In 258 patients (85.15%), the symptoms were relieved and satisfied criterion B, while there was no significant difference between the number of patients who met criterion A and those who met criterion B (P>0.05). Both the remission group and the non-remission group had obvious improvement in depression symptoms. Furthermore, the remission group showed a more significant improvement in depression symptoms after the treatment. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the improvement of depression symptoms cannot be used as a predictor of symptomatic relief with amisulpride in the treatment of schizophrenia according to criterion A (B=-0.01, P=0.07). While under the criterion B, the patient's age could be used as a predictive factor of symptom remission from amisulpride in the treatment of schizophrenia (B=-0.08, P=0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Amisulpride is effective in the treatment of schizophrenia and improving depression symptoms. The improvement of depression symptoms has no significant predictive effect on the remission of schizophrenia symptoms.