Influence of long-term quetiapine (seroquel) and haloperidol therapy on cognitive deficit in patients with paranoid schizophrenia

In of 67 patients with ICD-10 diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia compared influence of atypical neuroleptic seroquel (31 patients) and typical neuroleptic haloperidol (36 patients) on cognitive disturbances. The latter were evaluated using 8 neuropsychological tests and clinical symptoms were measured by the PANSS. There were 39 patients with the first episode and 28 with a chronic disease course. A mean therapeutic dosage for seroquel was 316,21 mg/day, for haloperidol - 12.34 mg/day, treatment duration was 3-12 months. The effect was evaluated 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after the beginning of the treatment. Compared to haloperidol, seroquel proved to be more effective for all the indices studied, in particular for executive functions and verbal productivity that correlated with negative symptoms reduction measured with the PANSS. Cognitive functions related to positive symptoms (attention, verbal memory) improved in both groups. Seroquel positively affected motor functions. The study confirmed the earlier reports on possibility of neurocognitive deficit correction by atypical antipsychotic drugs in the first episode as well as in chronic patients with schizophrenia.