A Discussion of 2 Double-Blind Studies Comparing Risperidone and Quetiapine in Patients With Schizophrenia

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Sir: We read with great interest the recent article by Zhong and colleagues¹ reporting results of a trial comparing quetiapine and risperidone for the treatment of schizophrenia. In that double-blind, 8-week study, there was a statistically significant difference favoring risperidone on the change at endpoint on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) positive symptoms subscale (an a priori secondary efficacy measure). In the same month, we² published similar findings from a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial comparing these 2 atypical antipsychotics in patients with schizophrenia experiencing an acute exacerbation requiring hospitalization (least squares mean ± SE change from baseline to endpoint of the monotherapy phase for PANSS positive symptoms: -8.7 ± 0.5 with risperidone and -5.9 ± 0.5 with quetiapine; p < .01).' ‹