Aripiprazole in the treatment of early-onset schizophrenia spectrum disorder: A case series in Korean children and adolescents

Objective: The aim of this case series was to assess the effectiveness and tol-erability of aripiprazole in Korean children and adolescents with early-onset schizophrenia spectrum (EOSS) disorder. Methods: The medical records of aripiprazole-treated patients with EOSS were retrospectively reviewed. Changes in illness severity were measured using the Clinical Global Impression-Severity of Illness (CGI-S) and Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I) scales. Results: Data from 22 children and adolescents were included (12 girls, 10 boys; mean [SD] age, 14.0 [2.4] years). The mean (SD) dosage of aripiprazole was 19.8 (9.4) mg/d (median, 18.7 mg/d; mode, 15, 30 mg/d), and the range of treatment duration was 21 to 838 days. Mean (SD) CGI-S score improved significantly from baseline to end point (from 5.7 [0.7] to 4.3 [1.4]; P < 0.001). Based on changes in chart-extracted CGI-I scores, significantly greater improvement was associated with negative symptoms compared with positive symptoms (U = 25.5; P = 0.028; r = -0.47). Aripiprazole was discontinued due to insufficient effect in 5 patients (22.7%) and treatment-emergent adverse events in 3 patients (13.6%). Conclusion: The results from this small study suggest that aripiprazole was moderately effective in reducing psychotic symptoms in these Korean children and adolescents with EOSS.