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Despite the clinical importance of polydipsia, no diagnostic criteria or severity scales that comprehensively assess this condition are available. Thus, we aimed to develop diagnostic criteria and a severity scale for polydipsia based on a systematic review and well-experienced clinicians’ consensus. We performed a systematic review, identified 27 studies related to diagnostic criteria or severity classification for polydipsia, and extracted items used to assess polydipsia in these studies. Ten well-experienced clinicians—5 psychiatrists and 5 nurses—participated in the Delphi method. They evaluated 39 items extracted based on the results of the systematic review regarding (1) their necessity in diagnosing and assessing the severity of polydipsia, and (2) their relative importance rated on 7-point scale among the items included in the severity scale. The Polydipsia Diagnostic Criteria (PDC) included 4 essential items—excessive drinking, low serum sodium level or low serum osmolality, abnormal normalized diurnal weight gain, and low urine specific gravity—based on consensus reached using the Delphi method. The Polydipsia Severity Scale (PSS) included 13 items with a maximum score of 59. The first diagnostic criteria and symptom scale for polydipsia were developed based on the findings of a systematic review and well-experienced clinicians’ consensus.

We describe real-world psychopharmacological treatment in a Japanese, male, closed psychiatric unit where clozapie was still unavailable. Fifty-five persistently-ill patients with schizophrenia (ICD-10), mean ± S.D. age: 57.5 ± 13.0 y.o., duration of illness and admissions: 30.9 ± 15.2 years and 20.7 ± 14.5 years, respectively) treated longitudinally were evaluated. The rule was to treat with a simplest possible psychotropic regimen without polypharmacy. Compared to the baseline, the number and dose of antipsychotics were reduced from 1.9 to 1.1 and 1012 mg/day to 607 mg/day, respectively. The number of total psychotropics was minimized from 4.7 to 2.1, with a simplified once or twice daily dosing. Overall, the CGI-Severity and FACT-Sz (global functioning) improved slightly from 5.8 to 5.5 and 28.7 to 32.6, respectively. Of note, no patients got worse in comparison with the baseline clinical presentation. Forty-four patients were successfully treated with a single antipsychotic; only seven needed two antipsychotics simultaneously while 36 had been treated with antipsychotic polypharmacy at baseline. Benzodiazepines (mostly lorazepam) and antiparkinsonian drugs were prescribed in 28 and only two, respectively. Nineteen needed adjunctive valproate (average blood levels: 99.3 ± 21.8 μg/mL) and nine used lithium (0.61 ± 0.26 mEq/L). Optimization of psychopharmacotherapy is still possible for difficult-to-treat patients and, while augmentation of an antipsychotic with mood stabilizers is frequently needed, antipsychotic polypharmacy should be exceptional.

The relationship between the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) with other scales in schizophrenia has rarely been investigated. A systematic literature search was conducted to identify articles that reported the GAF score together with scores in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Clinical Global Impression (CGI) or Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), using MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO, with keywords of schizophrenia, clinical trial and global assessment of functioning (last search 30 June 2013). Correlational analyses with weighting by the study participant numbers across these rating scales were performed. In 40 clinical trials (n=8000) that reported cross-sectional data on the GAF and PANSS, a significant but modest correlation was noted (Pearson׳s r=-0.401, p

Little is known about the influence of D2 receptor occupancy on impaired insight into illness (III)-a core feature of schizophrenia. III is associated with illness severity and cognitive dysfunction. Comparably, supratherapeutic D2 receptor occupancy can impair cognition. However, it is unclear how illness severity, cognition, and D2 receptor occupancy interact to influence III in schizophrenia. The aim of this study was to explore the influence of antipsychotic dose reduction on the relationships of illness severity and cognition to III. III was assessed at baseline and 28 weeks post-antipsychotic dose reduction in 16 participants with schizophrenia and plasma antipsychotic concentrations. III was assessed primarily with the Schedule for the Assessment of Insight-Japanese version, and secondarily with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale item G12. Correlation and regression analyses were performed to explore III's relationship to illness severity, cognition, and estimated D2 receptor occupancy (Est.D2). Cognition and Est.D2 predicted III at baseline. At 28 weeks post-reduction, illness severity and Est.D2 predicted III. Our findings suggest a complex relationship may exist among III, illness severity, cognition and Est.D2. At higher D2 receptor occupancies, III is influenced by cognitive dysfunction, whereas, at lower occupancies, illness severity has a stronger effect on III.

This study aimed to assess patient's capacity to perform a patient-reported outcome (PRO) measure (i.e., a self-rating scale) and examine its relationship with clinical characteristics including cognition. Fifty patients with schizophrenia were asked to rate the Subjective Well-being under Neuroleptics scale – Short form (SWNS) twice; the second rating was started immediately after they completed the first to minimize the gap between ratings. At the same time, the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS) and Brief Neurocognitive Assessment (BNA) were administered. The correlations between the two ratings for the SWNS total and each item scores were high ( r s =0.94 and r s =0.60–0.84, respectively); however, for 16 (80%) of 20 items, 5 or more patients (i.e., ≥10%) demonstrated a>1 point score difference. There was no significant correlation between the SWNS total score difference and any clinical characteristics including age, education duration, illness duration, antipsychotic dose, psychopathology, and cognition. In contrast, the number of items with a>1 point score difference was significantly correlated with disorganized symptoms and overall severity ( r s =0.29 for both), as well as working memory and global cognition ( r s =−0.41 and r s =−0.40, respectively). These findings suggest that PROs should be interpreted with caution in patients with schizophrenia with prominent disorganization and cognitive impairment.

Sixty-one patients with schizophrenia stably treated with risperidone or olanzapine were randomly assigned to dose-reduction-by-half group or dose maintenance group. Subjective experiences were assessed at baseline and 28 weeks using three different self-rating scales. No significant differences in changes of subjective experiences were observed between the two groups.