Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate how risperidone, a new atypical antipsychotics, affect the quality of life in shizophrenics on their maintenance treatment. Methods: The authors selected 39 shizophrenic patients
diagnosed by the criteria of DSM-Ⅳ. We investigated their sociodemographic data, clinical characteristics, laboratory examination, PANSS for psychopathology evaluation, and UKU side effect rating scale. Also the subjects were asked the KmSWN
scale,
which consists of 18 items and a 6-point score, three times for studying the effect on the quality in schizophrenics over 26-week period. For the assessment, the authors conducted repeated measures ANOVA to evaluate the differences of mean dose
of
risperidone, vital sing, weight, PANSS scores, and UKU side effect rating scores at period of baseline, 2-week, 14-week, and 26-week respectively. Also We used Pearson correlation coefficients to assess the relationship between KmSWN and PANSS
scores,
KmSWN and UKU side effect rating scores. Results: The results were shown as follows : first, in clinical evaluation, we observed mild systolic pressure diminution and 2, 3 ㎏ of mean weight gain at 26-week period but did not detected
abnormal
blood glucose level ; second, we observed the significant reduction in PANSS and UKU side effect rating scores on risperidone treatment, but the change of subjective evaluation on quality of life did not reported ; third, the schizophrenic
symptoms,
particularly negative and general psychopathology symptoms, and side effects were correlated negatively with the subjective evaluation on quality of life in shizophrenic patients at 26-week period after risperidone treatment in the Pearson
correlation
analysis. Conclusion: The authors observed the significant reduction in PANSS and UKU side effect rating scores at 26-week compared to baseline period. As the negative and general psychopathology symptoms, and the side effects reduced, the
subjective evaluation on the quality of life improved in schizophrenic patients.
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