Risperidone and Zotepine in the Treatment of Delirium
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2009-03-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Delirium is an organic psychiatric syndrome characterized by fluctuating consciousness and
impairment in perception, cognition and behavior. In hospitalized elderly, the prevalence of
delirium ranges from 10% to 40%. If untreated, delirium is associated with significant
morbidity and mortality. Treatment of delirium consists of identifying and managing
underlying medical abnormalities and the associated psychiatric symptoms. Conventional
antipsychotics have been the mainstay of treatment of agitation and psychosis associated with
delirium; but their use is limited in terms of EPS side effects. Second-generation
antipsychotic agents have been reported to have a lower incidence of extrapyramidal side
effects and tardive dyskinesia which has resulted in their increased use in the treatment of
delirious patients. However, there is still no consensus regarding standard pharmacologic
treatment of this syndrome that takes use of second-generation antipsychotic agents into
account.
Risperidone and zotepine have a lower incidence of EPS and are effective in treating
disturbing psychotic behaviors. We hope to compare the efficacy and safety of risperidone and
zotepine in the treatment of delirium and the correlation between the severity of delirium
with autonomic dysfunction.