[Implementation of appropriate administration of antipsychotics--measures to reduce high-dose multiple...

In Japan, multiple antipsychotic drugs are administered at a high dose to schizophrenia patients. Many patients suffer from side effects, among which extrapyramidal and autonomic side effects frequently occur. We suggest a method in which antipsychotic drugs are slowly reduced as follows: for low potency drugs, the dose is decreased with 25 mg or lower of a chlorpromazine-equivalent dose per week, and, for high potency drugs, the dose is decreased with 50mg or lower of a chlorpromazine-equivalent dose per week. A randomized controlled trial involving 10 hospitals demonstrated that antipsychotic drugs can be reduced with relative safety according to our method. Our method is also expected to be useful to switch between antipsychotics to avoid polypharmacy.