THE HIGH INCIDENCE ILLUSION: AKATHISIA WITH ARIPIPRAZOLE

Background: Clinicians have voiced concerns over the possibly high frequency of akathesia that occur with aripiprazole use, however, the existing literature is not consistent with these observations. Aim: To compare the frequency of akathesia occuring with aripiprazole and risperidone. Method: A total of 60 patients were included in the study. Patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were then randomly assigned into 2 groups of 30 patients each. One group is given Aripiprazole (10 mg) and the other is prescribed Risperidone (2mg). Patients of both groups were re-called on the 7th day after the start of the medication and were screened and calibrated for Akathisia using the Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale (BARS) with a cut off value of 2 or more on global assessment indicating the presence of Akathisia. The patients not having akathesia of the 7th day were put in a sub-group and were re-assessed for presence of akathesia on the 21st day following start of antipsychotic. Results: The akathesia assessment done on the 7th day revealed the presence of akathesia in two (6.67%) patients getting Aripiprazole 10 mg. One patient (3.34%) in the group receiving Risperidone 2 mg presented with akathesia of the 7th post treatment day. Furthermore, no patients in either of the sub-groups had akathisia when assessed on 21st post treatment day. One way ANOVA analysis gave p=0.895. Conclusion: The frequency of akathesia occuring with Aripiprazole is comparable to that with Risperidone and is considered low.