The Effect of Memantine Versus Folic Acid on Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Schizophrenia: A Randomized Clinical Trial
Objective: Schizophrenia, as one of the most severe psychiatric diseases, has a chronic and debilitating process. The majority of patients with schizophrenia do not respond adequately to treatment with common antipsychotic drugs. Therapeutic problems induced by drug side effects as well as undesire...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Tehran University of Medical Sciences
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Iranian Journal of Psychiatry |
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| Online Access: | https://ijps.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijps/article/view/3235 |
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| author | Seyed Ahmad Hosseini Zahra Sepehrmanesh Hamidreza Gilasi Fatemeh Sadat Ghoraishi |
| author_facet | Seyed Ahmad Hosseini Zahra Sepehrmanesh Hamidreza Gilasi Fatemeh Sadat Ghoraishi |
| author_sort | Seyed Ahmad Hosseini |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
Objective: Schizophrenia, as one of the most severe psychiatric diseases, has a chronic and debilitating process. The majority of patients with schizophrenia do not respond adequately to treatment with common antipsychotic drugs. Therapeutic problems induced by drug side effects as well as undesired results are major challenging issues regarding this disease. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of memantine supplementation on the improvement of cognitive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia.
Method: The present clinical trial was performed on 50 patients with acute schizophrenia who were admitted to Kargarnejad Psychiatric Hospital in Kashan in 2022 and who were diagnosed as schizophrenia cases at least three months ago. Patients were randomly divided into either the intervention group (n = 25) or the placebo group (n = 25). The intervention group received 5 mg of memantine per day for three months. The dose of memantine in this group was increased to the maximum of 20 mg per day. The placebo group received 1 mg of folic acid per day for three months. Moreover, an identical routine schizophrenia therapeutic regimen was administered to all patients. The effectiveness of memantine was evaluated using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III), which assessed cognitive ability in older adults over a 12-week follow-up period.
Results: The WAIS-III score in the 12th week of the study was significantly different between the placebo and intervention groups (P = 0.004), such that the score of the memantine group was higher than that of the placebo group. No significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of drug side effects.
Conclusion: Memantine can be supplemented in the treatment of schizophrenia so as to improve the cognitive symptoms of this disorder. However, subsequent studies involving larger sample sizes and different doses seem to be necessary to provide more accurate results in this respect.
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| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T14:42:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c18bd70a35a540068f8687ebf155f32a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1735-4587 2008-2215 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T14:42:19Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Tehran University of Medical Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Iranian Journal of Psychiatry |
| spelling | doaj.art-c18bd70a35a540068f8687ebf155f32a2023-08-16T06:07:48ZengTehran University of Medical SciencesIranian Journal of Psychiatry1735-45872008-22152023-06-0118310.18502/ijps.v18i3.13002The Effect of Memantine Versus Folic Acid on Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Schizophrenia: A Randomized Clinical TrialSeyed Ahmad Hosseini0Zahra Sepehrmanesh1Hamidreza Gilasi2Fatemeh Sadat Ghoraishi3Department of Psychiatry, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.Department of Psychiatry, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Health, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran.Department of Psychiatry, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran. Objective: Schizophrenia, as one of the most severe psychiatric diseases, has a chronic and debilitating process. The majority of patients with schizophrenia do not respond adequately to treatment with common antipsychotic drugs. Therapeutic problems induced by drug side effects as well as undesired results are major challenging issues regarding this disease. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of memantine supplementation on the improvement of cognitive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Method: The present clinical trial was performed on 50 patients with acute schizophrenia who were admitted to Kargarnejad Psychiatric Hospital in Kashan in 2022 and who were diagnosed as schizophrenia cases at least three months ago. Patients were randomly divided into either the intervention group (n = 25) or the placebo group (n = 25). The intervention group received 5 mg of memantine per day for three months. The dose of memantine in this group was increased to the maximum of 20 mg per day. The placebo group received 1 mg of folic acid per day for three months. Moreover, an identical routine schizophrenia therapeutic regimen was administered to all patients. The effectiveness of memantine was evaluated using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-III), which assessed cognitive ability in older adults over a 12-week follow-up period. Results: The WAIS-III score in the 12th week of the study was significantly different between the placebo and intervention groups (P = 0.004), such that the score of the memantine group was higher than that of the placebo group. No significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of drug side effects. Conclusion: Memantine can be supplemented in the treatment of schizophrenia so as to improve the cognitive symptoms of this disorder. However, subsequent studies involving larger sample sizes and different doses seem to be necessary to provide more accurate results in this respect. https://ijps.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijps/article/view/3235Cognitive SymptomsFolic AcidMemantineSchizophrenia |
| spellingShingle | Seyed Ahmad Hosseini Zahra Sepehrmanesh Hamidreza Gilasi Fatemeh Sadat Ghoraishi The Effect of Memantine Versus Folic Acid on Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Schizophrenia: A Randomized Clinical Trial Iranian Journal of Psychiatry Cognitive Symptoms Folic Acid Memantine Schizophrenia |
| title | The Effect of Memantine Versus Folic Acid on Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Schizophrenia: A Randomized Clinical Trial |
| title_full | The Effect of Memantine Versus Folic Acid on Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Schizophrenia: A Randomized Clinical Trial |
| title_fullStr | The Effect of Memantine Versus Folic Acid on Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Schizophrenia: A Randomized Clinical Trial |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Effect of Memantine Versus Folic Acid on Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Schizophrenia: A Randomized Clinical Trial |
| title_short | The Effect of Memantine Versus Folic Acid on Cognitive Impairment in Patients with Schizophrenia: A Randomized Clinical Trial |
| title_sort | effect of memantine versus folic acid on cognitive impairment in patients with schizophrenia a randomized clinical trial |
| topic | Cognitive Symptoms Folic Acid Memantine Schizophrenia |
| url | https://ijps.tums.ac.ir/index.php/ijps/article/view/3235 |
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