An open-label study of olanzapine in children and adolescents with schizophrenia

The purpose of this open-label study was to evaluate the use of olanzapine in the treatment of children and adolescents with schizophrenia. Sixteen children who were 8-17 years of age and met DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia were admitted into a 10-week, open-label, optimizing dose study of olanzapine. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), and the Clinical Global Impression (CGI)-Severity/Improvement scales were used to assess improvement during the study. Of the 16 subjects who completed the study, 12 demonstrated significant improvement on end of treatment BPRS, CGI, and PANSS scores compared with baseline. Male subjects showed greater improvement and also gained more weight. Weight gain occurred in all but 2 subjects. Weight gain was significant, with patients averaging a gain of about 6.2 kg during the 6-week course of the study. Two of the subjects experienced extrapyramidal symptoms. The average dose of olanzapine for all subjects was 0.17 mg/kg.