Clinical implications of the CATIE schizophrenia trials: day-to-day management lessons for Australasian psychiatrists

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper was to review whether the $50m spent by the US National Institute of Mental Health in doing the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) trials found any useful evidence to change the clinical management of schizophrenia by psychiatrists. CONCLUSIONS: The CATIE trials were conducted in the US on 1460 enrolled patients in an effort to track how the drugs used to treat schizophrenia actually work in clinical practice (rather than in 6-week clinical trials). In a complex 3-phase design, patients were randomized to various types of (mostly) atypical antipsychotic drugs. Some 69-74% of patients switched antipsychotics for one reason ..