Predictors of response and remission in the acute treatment of first-episode schizophrenia patients — Is it all about early response? Rebecca Schennach-Wolff a , ⁎ , Markus Jäger a , Andreas Mayr a , l , Sebastian Meyer a , Kai-Uwe Kühn b , Stefan Klingberg c , Isabella Heuser d , Joachim Klosterkötter e , Markus Gastpar f , Andrea Schmitt g , m , Ralf Schlösser h , Frank Schneider i , Wolfgang Gaebel j , Florian Seemüller a , Hans-Jürgen Möller a , Michael Riedel a , k a Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany b Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bonn, Germany c Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tübingen, Germany d Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charite Berlin, Campus Benjamin Franklin, Germany e Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Cologne, Germany f Department of General Psychiatry, Rhein Hospital Essen, Germany g Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany h Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Jena, Germany i Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, RWTH Aachen University, Germany j Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Heinrich-Heine-University, Duesseldorf, Germany k Psychiatric Clinic, Vinzenz-von-Paul-Hospital, Rottweil, Germany l Department of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany m Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Göttingen, Germany Received 7 June 2010; received in revised form 12 October 2010; accepted 12 October 2010 KEYWORDS: First-episode schizophrenia; Response; Predictors; Risperidone; Haloperidol Abstract Background: To evaluate the predictive validity of early response compared to other well-known predictor variables in acutely ill first-episode patients. Methods: 112 patients were treated with a mean dosage of 4.14 mg (±1.70) haloperidol and 112 patients with a mean dosage of 4.17 mg (± 1.55) risperidone for a mean inpatient treatment duration of 42.92 days (± 16.85) within a double-blind, randomized controlled trial. Early response was defined as a ≥ 30% improvement in the PANSS total score by week 2, response as a ≥ 50% reduction in the PANSS total score from admission to discharge and remission according to the consensus criteria. Univariate tests and ⁎ Corresponding author. Department of Psychiatry Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich Nussbaumstr. 7, 80336 München, Germany. Tel.: +49 89 5160 5511; fax: +49 89 5160 5728. E-mail address: Rebecca.Schennach-Wolff@med.uni-muenchen.de (R. Schennach-Wolff). 0924-977X/$ - see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.euroneuro.2010.10.003 www.elsevier.com/locate/euroneuro European Neuropsychopharmacology (2011) 21, 370–378