Outcomes of long-acting injectable antipsychotics use in pregnancy:A literature review

BACKGROUND Women with a history of serious psychotic disorders are at increased risk of disease relapse during pregnancy.Long-acting injectable(LAI)antipsychotics have been widely used to improve adherence and prevent relapse in patients with various severe psychotic disorders,but there is a lack of high-quality data from previous research on the safety of LAI antipsychotics during pregnancy.AIM To summarize relevant data on maternal,pregnancy,neonatal,and developmental outcomes from published cases of LAI antipsychotic use in pregnancy.METHODS A literature search was performed through November 11,2023,using three online databases:PubMed/MEDLINE,Scopus,and Web of Science.Case reports or case series that reported information about the outcomes of pregnancy in women who used LAI antipsychotics at any point in pregnancy,with available full texts,were included.Descriptive statistics,narrative summation,and tabulation of the extracted data were performed.RESULTS A total of 19 publications satisfied the inclusion criteria:3 case series,15 case reports,and 1 conference abstract.They reported the outcomes of LAI antipsychotic use in 74 women and 77 pregnancies.The use of secondgeneration LAI antipsychotics was reported in the majority(n=47;61.0%)of pregnancies.First-generation LAI antipsychotics were administered during 30 pregnancies(39.0%).Most of the women(approximately 64%)had either satisfactory control of symptoms or no information about relapse,while approximately 12%of them had developed gestational diabetes mellitus.A minority of cases reported adverse outcomes such as stillbirth,spontaneous abortion,preterm birth,low birth weight,congenital anomalies,and neurological manifestations in newborns.However,there were no reports of negative long-term developmental outcomes.CONCLUSION Currently available data seem reassuring,but further well-designed studies are required to properly evaluate the risks and benefits of LAI antipsychotic use during pregnancy.

Newer antipsychotics: Brexpiprazole, cariprazine, and lumateperone: A pledge or another unkept promise?

Antipsychotic agents are used for various indications in the treatment of psychiatric disorders.Despite their proven roles in multiple conditions,the treatment-emergent side effects of antipsychotic medications,such as metabolic side effects,are often the limiting factor for their long-term and short-term uses.Moreover,antipsychotic medications are often criticized for being less effective in treating different disabling symptoms such as negative symptoms of schizophrenia.As a result,the search for safer and more efficacious antipsychotic agents is ongoing.Newer antipsychotic agents are gaining attention related to emerging efficacy and tolerability data in treating neuropsychiatric conditions.In this review,we attempt to appraise the scientific data on psychopharmacology,safety profile,and efficacy of the newer additions to the list of second-generation antipsychotics,namely brexpiprazole,cariprazine,and lumateperone.We conducted a selective review utilizing PubMed,clinicaltrials.gov,and Cochrane databases to gather appropriate publications,keeping broad inclusion criteria.There were no restrictions on the age of the study population or the year of publication.We also cross-referenced articles and references to capture all existing studies.Our review of the current literature indicates that all three antipsychotic agents appear to be promising based on their short-term studies,while long-term studies remain limited.There is also a need for a head to head comparison between the newer antipsychotics with the other antipsychotic agents to ascertain if the newer agents are any better than the others.

Pimavanserin for the treatment of psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease: A literature review

BACKGROUND Alzheimer’s disease(AD)is among the most prevalent forms of dementia in the world and neuropathological studies suggest similar high prevalence of mixed(AD+vascular)dementias.Approximately 25%-50%of individuals with AD develop psychosis sometime during their illness.The presence of psychosis in AD worsens outcomes.Currently there are no United States Food and Drug Administration(FDA)approved medications for the treatment of psychosis in AD.Pimavanserin,a novel atypical antipsychotic medication,was approved by the FDA for the treatment of hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson disease psychosis and is currently in clinical trials for the treatment of psychosis in AD.AIM To evaluate the existing literature regarding the use of pimavanserin for treating psychosis among individuals with AD.METHODS A literature review of clinical studies of pimavanserin treatment for psychosis in individuals with AD was performed using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis guidelines.Trials were identified by systematically searching PubMed,MEDLINE,EMBASE,Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials,Web of Science,and Scopus through October 2019.The 5-point Jadad scoring system was used to assess the methodologic quality of the randomized placebo-controlled trials.RESULTS A total of 499 citations were retrieved and pooled in EndNote and de-duplicated to 258 citations.This set was uploaded to Covidence for screening.Two separate screeners(Srinivasan S and Tampi RR)evaluated the titles,abstracts,and full text of eligible articles.Of the identified 258 abstracts,98 articles underwent full text review and 2 publications from 1 randomized controlled trial(RCT)were included in the final analysis.The quality of evidence was assessed to be of good methodologic quality,scoring 4 out of 5 using the 5-point Jadad questionnaire with the Jadad Scoring calculation.This systematic review found only one RCT that evaluated the use of pimavanserin for the treatment of psychosis among individuals with AD.This phase 2 trial resulted in two publications,the second of which was a subgroup analysis from the original study.The evidence from these two publications showed that pimavanserin improves psychotic symptoms among individuals with AD when compared to placebo at week 6.CONCLUSION Pimavanserin may be a pharmacologic consideration for the treatment for psychosis in AD.Additional RCTs are needed to assess the evidence of effectiveness before pimavanserin is considered a standard treatment.

Abnormal glycosylated hemoglobin as a predictive factor for glucose metabolism disorders in antipsychotic treatment

The aim of this study was to observe the changes in glucose metabolism after antipsychotic(APS)therapy,to note the influencing factors,as well as to discuss the relationship between the occurrence of glucose metabolism disorders of APS origin and abnormal glycosylated hemoglobin(HbA1c)levels.One hundred and fifty-two patients with schizophrenia,whose fasting plasma glucose(FPG)and 2-h plasma glucose(2hPG)in the oral glucose tolerance test(2HPG)were normal,were grouped according to the HbA1c levels,one normal and the other abnormal,and were randomly enrolled into risperidone,clozapine and chlorpromazine treatment for six weeks.The FPG and 2hPG were measured at the baseline and at the end of the study.In the group with abnormal HbA1c and clozapine therapy,2HPG was higher after the study[(9.5±1.8)mmol/L]than that before the study[(7.2±1.4)mmol/L]and the difference was statistically significant(P<0.01).FPG had no statistically significant difference before and after the study in any group(P>0.05).HbA1c levels and drugs contributing to 2HPG at the end of study had statistical cross-action(P<0.01).In the abnormal HbA1c group,2HPG after the study was higher in the clozapine treatment group[(9.5±1.8)mmol/L]than in the risperidone treatment group[(7.4±1.7)mmol/L]and the chlorpromazine treatment group[(7.3±1.6)mmol/L].The differences were statistically significant(P<0.01).In the normal HbA1c group there was no statistically significant difference before and after the study in any group(P>0.05).2HPG before[(7.1±1.6)mmol/L]and after the study[(8.1±1.9)mmol/L]was higher in the abnormal HbA1c group than in the normal HbA1c group[(6.2±1.4)mmol/L vs(6.5±1.4)mmol/L]with the difference being statistically significant(P<0.01 vs P<0.001).As compared with normal HbA1c group,the relative risk(RR)of glucose metabolism disease occurrence was 4.7 in the abnormal HbA1c group with the difference being statistically significant(P<0.001).Patients with abnormal HbA1c are more likely to have a higher risk of having glucose metabolism disorders after APS treatment.