Cariprazine for treating psychosis: an updated meta-analysis.

Purpose: Early treatment of psychotic illness improves outcomes, reduces relapse rates and should not be delayed. Cariprazine is a promising antipsychotic drug and may be a valuable resource when clinicians are in doubt if psychotic symptoms are due to schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Materials and Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis that included seven studies (n = 2896) analyzing the effect of cariprazine in psychotic symptoms assessed by the positive and negative symptoms scale (PANSS). Results: We found cariprazine to be significantly superior to placebo (Hedges' g = 0.40; 95% CI 0.32-0.49) for acute psychosis independently of primary psychiatric diagnosis and also to be superior to placebo for both schizophrenia (Hedges' g = 0.39; 95% CI 0.29-0.50) and bipolar patients (Hedges' g = 0.43; 95% CI 0.27-0.58). Conclusions : We propose that cariprazine may be useful in treating psychosis independently of nosological differentiation at the beginning of the treatment Key pointsEarly treatment of psychotic illness with antipsychotic medications improves outcomes and reduces relapse rates.Cariprazine was found to be significantly superior to placebo for acute psychosis independently of primary psychiatric diagnosis.Cariprazine may be useful in treating psychosis independently of nosological differentiation between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder at the beginning of the treatment.