EXAMINING LURASIDONE EFFICACY IN SCHIZOPHRENIC PATIENTS WITH COMORBID ALCOHOL AND SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER: A MULTICENTRIC PROSPECTIVE INVESTIGATION

Background: Alcohol/Substance Use Disorder (AUD/SUD) among schizophrenic patient represent a common and problematic co-occurrence, with a rate of comorbidity assessed between 40% and 70%, especially in young patients at the onset of their disorder (1-2). Comorbid patients are usually difficult to treat: they show a very low level of compliance, and are frequently exposed to drop-out and lack of efficacy for the available antipsychotic drugs leading to worsened clinical outcomes and increased difficulty in treatment (3-4). Aims & Objectives: to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of the second generation antipsychotic lurasidone in schizophrenic patients comorbid AUD/SUD. Method: In this prospective, multicentric, real-world study, a total of 21 patients (M/F ratio: 14/7; age=34.20 ± 11.81), diagnosed with Schizophrenia and AUD/SUD (6 and 15, respectively) were recruited and treated using lurasidone up to 148mg/day. Evaluations were performed at the baseline (T0) and after 4 weeks (T1) using Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I) scores. Quality of life (Q-LES-Q-SF), alcohol and substance related aggressiveness (Modified Overt Aggression Scale/MOAS), as well as craving for substances (VAS) were assessed. Repeated-measures ANOVA (rm-ANOVA) models were used to estimate the effect of treatment on the aforementioned psychometric scales. Results: Lurasidone was effective in reducing the total burden of psychopathology, as highlighted by the significant reduction of PANSS (F12,1= 8.422; P= 0.013), CGI-S (F11,1= 30.94; P