%0 Journal Article
%T Off-label indications for atypical antipsychotics: A systematic review
%A Konstantinos N Fountoulakis
%A Ioannis Nimatoudis
%A Apostolos Iacovides
%A George Kaprinis
%J Annals of General Psychiatry
%D 2004
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1475-2832-3-4
%X MEDLINE was searched with the combination of each one of the key words: risperidone, olanzapine and quetiapine with key words that refered to every DSM-IV diagnosis other than schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder and dementia and memory disorders. All papers were scored on the basis of the JADAD index.The search returned 483 papers. The selection process restricted the sample to 59 papers concerning Risperidone, 37 concerning Olanzapine and 4 concerning Quetiapine (100 in total). Ten papers (7 concerning Risperidone and 3 concerning Olanzapine) had JADAD index above 2. Data suggest that further research would be of value concerning the use of risperidone in the treatment of refractory OCD, Pervasive Developmental disorder, stuttering and Tourette's syndrome, and the use of olanzapine for the treatment of refractory depression and borderline personality disorder.Data on the off-label usefulness of newer atypical antipsychotics are limited, but positive cues suggest that further research may provide with sufficient hard data to warrant the use of these agents in a broad spectrum of psychiatric disorders, either as monotherapy, or as an augmentation strategy.Newer antipsychotic agents exhibit a well documented beneficial effect on schizophrenia and psychosis in general. Their use in bipolar disorder is also well established. Also their use in the treatment of psychotic and behavioral disorders in the frame of dementia of various types may warrant further study.However, in 1999, almost 70% of prescriptions concerned an off-label use of antipsychotics. Psychiatrists around the world used to apply low doses of antipsychotics to a variety of refractory non-psychotic patients, already during the pre-atypical era.An earlier review paper by Potenza and McDougle [1] reported no hard evidence concerning the use of atypical antipsychotics in non-psychotic disorders. These authors traced several positive uncontrolled studies concerning risperidone, but al
%K Atypical antipsychotics
%K off-label prescription
%K pharmacotherapy
%K depression
%K personality disorders
%K stuttering
%K pervasive developmental disorder
%K Tourette's syndrome
%K OCD
%U http://www.annals-general-psychiatry.com/content/3/1/4