Objective: Negative symptoms are debilitating and associated with poor role functioning and reduced quality of life. There is a paucity of research on antipsychotic efficacy against the primary negative symptoms, particularly in first-episode psychosis (FEP). We undertook a prospective, open-label pilot trial to investigate the use of amisulpride in the treatment of young people with FEP characterised by primary negative symptoms.
Method: Twelve male and two female first-episode patients with primary negative symptoms (aged 16-26) were commenced on low-dose amisulpride (mean 250 mg/day) and followed-up over a 6-month period. Primary outcome measures were the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), the Quality of Life Survey (QLS) and their respective subscales.
Results: For the 12 completers there was a statistically significant improvement in SANS summary score (p = 0.036), Affective Flattening subscale global score (p = 0.046), QLS total score (p = 0.021), QLS subscales of Instrumental Role (p = 0.018) and Intra-psychic Foundations (p = 0.009) from baseline to week 24.
Conclusions: Amisulpride appears to be associated with less severe negative symptoms and improved quality of life. Generalisabilty of the findings is limited by the small sample size and open-label design of our study, however the positive findings suggest that further controlled trials are warranted.