PETER FALKAI, THOMAS WOBROCK
Departamento de Psiquiatria e Psicoterapia, Universidade de Saarland, Homburg/Saar, Alemanha
JEFFREY LIEBERMAN
Departamento de Psiquiatria, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Universidade de Columbia, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Lieber Center for Schizophrenia Research, Nova York, Estados Unidos.
BIRTE GLENTHOJ
Departamento de Psiquiatria, Universidade de Copenhagen, Bispebjerg Hospital, Dinamarca.
WAGNER F. GATTAZ
Departamento de Psiquiatria, Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil.
HANS-JÜRGEN MÖLLER
Departamento de Psiquiatria e Psicoterapia, Universidade Ludwig-Maximilians, Munique, Alemanha
Abstract:
These guidelines for the biological treatment of schizophrenia were developed by an international Task Force of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry (WFSBP). The goal during the development of these guidelines was to review systematically all available evidence pertaining to the treatment of schizophrenia, and to reach a consensus on a series of practice recommendations that are clinically and scientifically meaningful based on the available evidence. These guidelines are intended for use by all physicians seeing and treating people with schizophrenia. The data used for developing these guidelines have been extracted primarily from various national treatment guidelines and panels for schizophrenia, as well as from meta-analyses, reviews and randomised clinical trials on the efficacy of pharmacological and other biological treatment interventions identified by a search of the MEDLINE database and Cochrane Library. The identified literature was evaluated with respect to the strength of evidence for its efficacy and then categorised into four levels of evidence (A/D). This second part of the guidelines covers the long-term treatment as well as the management of relevant side effects. These guidelines are primarily concerned with the biological treatment (including antipsychotic medication, other pharmacological treatment options, electroconvulsive therapy, adjunctive and novel therapeutic strategies) of adults suffering from schizophrenia.
Keywords:Schizophrenia, Long-term treatment, Evidence-based medicine, Practice guidelines, Biological treatment, Antipsychotics.