Summary

Antipsychotics is a key component in the treatment of psychosis, including first-episode psychosis. Studies investigating the effect of antipsychotics have mainly been conducted on people with multiple previous psychosis episodes and not young people with first-time psychosis. Therefore, it is possible that the treatment effect may be somewhat different for the latter group. The purpose of this systematic review is to investigate the effect of antipsychotic treatment compared to placebo or non-drug treatments on people with first-episode psychosis.  This overview can provide knowledge-based information to guide patients, clinicians and leaders on best practice treatment for people with first-episode psychosis.

To identify relevant studies, a librarian will conduct a systematic literature search in international databases - such as MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO. In prioritized order, we will include systematic reviews published from 2016 or RCTs (no restrictions on publication year) that investigate the effects of antipsychotic treatment compared to non-drug treatments or placebo on people with first-episode psychosis. Two researchers will independently evaluate titles and abstracts of the identified publications against the selection criteria. Then, two researchers will independently evaluate all publications in full text considered relevant after reviewing titles and abstracts. We will extract and analyse data from the included publications, assess their methodological quality as well as our confidence in the results with suitable checklists and tools. The results will be presented and published in a report.

See the full project description at Cristin for more information about results, researchers, contact information etc.

Project participants

Project leader

Patricia Sofia Jacobsen Jardim, Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Project participants

Trine Bjerke Johansen, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Solveig Klæbo Reitan, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Erik Johnsen, Psykiatrisk institutt, seksjon Haukeland, University of Bergen
Rigmor Berg, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Tiril Cecilie Borge, Norwegian Institute of Public Health
Gyri Hval, Norwegian Institute of Public Health