Adjunctive Risperidone and Olanzapine in the Treatment of Patients with Bipolar I Disorder:

This study was conducted to evaluate the overall efficacy and safety of atypical antipsychotics (risperidone vs. olanzapine) in the treatment of inpatients with bipolar I disorder in Korea. Ninety six consecutive inpatients with bipolar I disorder at St. Mary’s Hospital in Seoul, Korea, were given olanzapine or risperidone as adjuncts to mood stabilizers for at least 1 month, in the absence of other antipsychotics. Details of the adverse effects, tolerability, and efficacy were reviewed on the basis of the treatment records on admission and after 4 weeks of hospitalization. The overall results showed that the two atypical antipsychotics had equivalent efficacies based on the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) and Global Assessment Functioning(GAF) scores. The frequencies of the extrapyramidal symptom-related side effects were higher in the risperidone-treated group than in the olanzapine-treated group. This small study suggests that the efficacies of risperidone and olanzapine are similar in inpatients with bipolar I disorder in a naturalistic setting and that the present data from a North-East Asian setting replicated and extended the findings of previous Western studies.