Effect of Adjunctive Sodium Valproate in Patients of Acute Schizophrenia

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Sodium valproate is an anticonvulsantwidely prescribed as a mood stabilizer for treating bipolardisorders. It’s role in treating schizoaffective disorders iswell documented. There are controversies regarding sodiumvalproate efficacy in schizophrenia. Although, some studieshave reported that it is effective in the management of positivesymptoms in acute psychosis, others have not found such anassociation. Study aimed at assessment the effect of adjunctivesodium valproate in acute stage of schizophrenia.Material and Methods: A total of 60 schizophrenic patients(age 18-45 years) were taken. They were randomly allocatedinto two groups, A and B. Patients in group A receivedatypical antipsychotic with placebo and in group B atypicalantipsychotic with adjunctive sodium valproate. Olanzapinewas taken as atypical antipsychotic in both groups.A diagnosis of schizophrenia was established based on ICD10 DCR criteria. All patients were assessed by PANSS andCGI-S at baseline and at 6 weeks. The collected data wereanalyzed by Student and Paired t-tests through SPSS.Results: Comparison of mean PANSS scores showedstatistically significant improvement in positive symptoms(p<0.014), general psychopathology (p<0.036) and total score(p<0.018) in group B patients as compared to group A. CGI-Sscores were also statistically significantly less in (p<0.011)group B patients as compared to group A after 6 weeks.Conclusion: Our study shows that if used as an adjunctive toantipsychotic in the management of acute psychosis, sodiumvalproate will speed up the recovery of positive symptoms