Study characteristics for pharmacological interventions.

Note.* Data not reported in sufficient detail to include in analysis1 Molindone was the third arm of this trial (n = 40), however as it was discontinued by its sole supplier, Endo Pharmaceuticals, on January 13, 2010, only data for risperidone and olanzapine are used in this review2 The study design consisted of an 8 week ‘acute phase’ and a blind ‘maintenance phase’ up to 52 weeks post randomization. During the maintenance phase participants continued to be administered treatment within their randomised groups and at same dose range.3 Loxapine was the third arm of this trial (n = 26), however it was not included in this guideline as it was discontinued in the UK in 2003.4This trial included a fourth arm of paliperidone 6–12mg/day. The 3–6mg/day arm was selected as the ‘higher dose’ antipsychotic medication in accordance with POMH-UK Topic 10 benchmarking exercise and therefore the 6–12mg/day arm was not included in the current work.N = number randomised; nr = not reported; na = not applicable; mg = milligrams; DU = duration of treatment; PT = post-treatment data collection; FU = follow-up data collectionStudy characteristics for pharmacological interventions.