The British Journal of Psychiatry 153: 354-358 (1988)
© 1988 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Criteria for evaluating improvement in schizophrenia in psychopharmacological research (with special reference to gamma endorphin fragments)
R Manchanda, SR Hirsch and TR Barnes
University of Western Ontario, Canada.
A review of treatment trials with DT gamma E revealed widely discrepant
results. Relevant variables were the variety of measures employed for
monitoring psychotic symptoms, and the different criteria used to judge the
degree of improvement. The authors suggest a uniform outcome criterion for
early trials of new treatments, which would generate more consistent and
comparable results between studies, and give a stronger indication of the
value of the treatment under test. When the data from the various treatment
trials of DT gamma E were reanalysed, applying a uniform outcome criterion
of improvement of a change of 80% or more on rating-scale score, the
results were more consistent than would have been suspected from the
original reports.
