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@ARTICLE{SchneiderThoma:285365,
author = {Schneider-Thoma, Johannes and Zhu, Yikang and Qin,
Mengchang and Dong, Yu and Guan, Shiwei and Wang, Jiaxi and
Tian, Jing and Lin, Xiao and Rodolico, Alessandro and
Siafis, Spyridon and Bighelli, Irene and Wehner, Melanie and
Veith, Christina and Krayer, Felix and Scheuring, Elfriede
and Davis, John M and Priller, Josef and Nikolakopoulou,
Adriani and Salanti, Georgia and Li, Chunbo and Leucht,
Stefan},
title = {{C}omparative efficacy and tolerability of antidopaminergic
and muscarinic antipsychotics for acute schizophrenia: a
network meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
indexed in international {E}nglish and {C}hinese databases.},
journal = {The lancet},
volume = {407},
number = {10531},
issn = {0140-6736},
address = {London [u.a.]},
publisher = {Elsevier},
reportid = {DZNE-2026-00229},
pages = {876 - 891},
year = {2026},
abstract = {Antipsychotic drugs are the established treatment for acute
schizophrenia but differ in receptor-binding profiles. In
2024, a new-in-class muscarinic receptor agonist
(xanomeline-trospium) was licenced, acting upstream of
antidopaminergic agents, and providing hope to decrease the
adverse effects burden of antipsychotics. We aimed to
compare the efficacy and tolerability of antipsychotics by
performing network meta-analysis of randomised controlled
trials (RCTs).This systematic review (PROSPERO,
CRD42022380708) included blinded and open RCTs investigating
antipsychotic drugs in participants of any age with acute
psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia over 3 weeks to 3
months. Included antipsychotics comprised 23 primarily
dopamine-receptor blocking medications and the muscarinic
receptor agonist xanomeline-trospium in different
applications. We searched Cochrane Schizophrenia group's
register, previous reviews, and five Chinese databases for
trials published from database inception until July 26, 2024
and contacted authors to assess trials' methodological
quality; only trials with appropriate randomisation
indicated were included. The primary outcome was rating
scale-measured overall symptoms of schizophrenia (efficacy)
analysed with random-effects frequentist network
meta-analysis. Secondary outcomes comprised 32 further
efficacy and tolerability outcomes. The confidence in the
estimates was assessed using the Confidence in Network
Meta-Analysis approach.After screening 18 859 references and
contacting authors of 5428 trials, we included 438 RCTs. Of
those, 388 RCTs with 78 193 participants (28 448 women and
49 745 men) provided usable data for at least one outcome.
5117 Chinese trials were identified but most were excluded
because authors did not reply or reported serious
methodological concerns. 256 double-blind studies with 58
948 participants provided usable data for the primary
outcome. All antipsychotics reduced symptoms more than
placebo with standardised mean differences ranging from
-0·90 $(95\%$ CI -1·03 to -0·77) to -0·23 (-0·39 to
-0·06). Particularly clozapine, as well as amisulpride,
olanzapine, and risperidone were more efficacious than at
least three other antipsychotics (confidence in estimates
were low-to-moderate). Adverse effects varied across
medications.This network meta-analysis provides evidence for
small-to-medium clinically relevant differences between
antipsychotics in efficacy; this finding warrants stronger
and more specific emphasis in clinical guidelines.
Nonetheless, important differences in tolerability need to
be considered for individualised drug choice, with partial
dopamine agonists having overall better tolerability and
xanomeline-trospium lacking adverse effects of
dopamine-blocking agents but resulting in cholinergic and
anticholinergic adverse events. Future research should
directly compare xanomeline-trospium with other
antipsychotics to confirm its efficacy; modern trials using
clozapine early in schizophrenia are needed to establish
whether it improves outcomes and prevents
chronification.German Research Foundation, German Ministry
of Research, Technology and Space, and National Natural
Science Foundation of China.},
cin = {AG Priller},
ddc = {610},
cid = {I:(DE-2719)5000007},
pnm = {353 - Clinical and Health Care Research (POF4-353)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF4-353},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)16},
pubmed = {pmid:41763745},
doi = {10.1016/S0140-6736(25)02365-7},
url = {https://pub.dzne.de/record/285365},
}