Comparative effects of risperidone and olanzapine on cognition in elderly patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder

Abstract

Low doses of risperidone and olanzapine improve cognitive function in elderly patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Consistent with research in younger populations, these improvements occur in aspects of cognitive functioning related to functional outcome.

Antipsychotic use in the elderly: shifting trends and increasing costs

“…Olanzapine was associated with more frequent falls in patients with dementia than Risperidone (Martin et al, 2001b), although no differences in falls were found in another similar study (Kennedy et al, 2003). No differences in clinical (Jeste et al, 2003) or cognitive (Harvey et al, 2003) outcomes were found in randomized comparisons of Risperidone and Olanzapine in elderly patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, although weight gain was found more commonly in patients treated with Olanzapine in one of these studies (Jeste et al, 2003). Randomized data is lacking for Quetiepine in older adults.…”

Sensitivity to Antipsychotic Drugs in Older Adults

“…Finally, although antipsychotics have been associated with modest improvement in cognition in some studies of patients with schizophrenia [28][29][30], they have also been associated with adverse cognitive effects across a wide range of doses [31][32][33]. Such adverse effects are particularly relevant in older adults considering that patients with schizophrenia demonstrate persistent or worsening cognitive deficits with age [34].…”

5‐HT6 antagonists as potential treatment for cognitive dysfunction

“…Second generation agents (atypical antipsychotics), such as clozapine 6, olanzapine, ziprasidone, and risperidone, have reduced extrapyramidal side effects (EPS) and tardive dyskinesia (TD) compared to first-generation treatments. Although some of the atypical antipsychotics have been found to improve cognitive function, overall this is modest and not always consistent [Bilder et al, 2002;Goldberg et al, 1993;Harvey and Keefe, 2001;Harvey et al, 2003Harvey et al, , 2004Harvey et al, , 2005Keefe et al, 2004].…”