Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of risperidone long-acting injectable (LAIR) for the treatment of schizophrenia in a large sample size in Chinese population.Methods This was an open-label, multi-center and prospective study in naturalistic treatment.Patients suffering from schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV diagnostic criteria were treated with LAIR for 12 weeks, every two weeks a time.The PANSS total score, positive and negative symptom scores, Clinical Global Impressions-Severity and Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement were evaluated at baseline, and the 4th, 6th, 8th, 12th week treatment respectively.The adverse events were recorded.Results Altogether 251 patients from 17 hospitals across China were enrolled in the study.From the end of 4th week to the end of 12th week, the PANSS total score,positive and negative symptom scores, general psychopathology score significantly decreased compared with the baseline score (P<0.01).The effective rate, improvement rate and the percentage of patients who met the criteria of clinical relief were 57.4%, 79.9% and 76.6%, respectively.At the end of 4th week, the better decline level on PANSS score were in patients with illness duration of 2 years or shorter than that in ones with duration of longer than 2 year, and this trend persisted into the end of treatment.The total adverse events rate was 12.4%, and most were mild and moderate.Conclusions LAIR is effective and safe for treatment of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, with better effect in patients with shorter illness duration.

Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of risperidone long-acting injectable (LAIR) for the treatment of schizophrenia in a large sample size in Chinese population.Methods This was an open-label, multi-center and prospective study in naturalistic treatment.Patients suffering from schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV diagnostic criteria were treated with LAIR for 12 weeks, every two weeks a time.The PANSS total score, positive and negative symptom scores, Clinical Global Impressions-Severity and Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement were evaluated at baseline, and the 4th, 6th, 8th, 12th week treatment respectively.The adverse events were recorded.Results Altogether 251 patients from 17 hospitals across China were enrolled in the study.From the end of 4th week to the end of 12th week, the PANSS total score,positive and negative symptom scores, general psychopathology score significantly decreased compared with the baseline score (P<0.01).The effective rate, improvement rate and the percentage of patients who met the criteria of clinical relief were 57.4%, 79.9% and 76.6%, respectively.At the end of 4th week, the better decline level on PANSS score were in patients with illness duration of 2 years or shorter than that in ones with duration of longer than 2 year, and this trend persisted into the end of treatment.The total adverse events rate was 12.4%, and most were mild and moderate.Conclusions LAIR is effective and safe for treatment of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, with better effect in patients with shorter illness duration.