Psychological intervention

Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale

Adjunctive treatment

Psychiatry

Biochemistry

PsycINFO

Placebo

Alternative medicine

Schizophrenia (object-oriented programming)

Political science

Antioxidant

Psychosis

Meta-analysis

Internal medicine

MEDLINE

Medicine

Chemistry

CINAHL

Acetylcysteine

Randomized controlled trial

Pathology

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry

Objective: There is accumulating evidence that adjunctive treatment with N-acetylcysteine may be effective for schizophrenia. This study aimed to conduct a comprehensive meta-analysis examining the efficacy of randomised control trials investigating N-acetylcysteine as an adjunct treatment for schizophrenia and the first to investigate cognition as an outcome. Methods: We systematically reviewed Medline, EmCare, PsycINFO, Embase, CINAHL Complete, China Knowledge Resource Integrated Database and the Cochrane Clinical Trials online registry for randomised control trials of N-acetylcysteine for schizophrenia. We undertook pairwise meta-analyses of N-acetylcysteine vs placebo for psychosis symptoms and cognition. Results: Seven studies, including n = 220 receiving N-acetylcysteine and n = 220 receiving placebo, met inclusion criteria for the pairwise meta-analyses. Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale negative and total scores were significantly improved in the N-acetylcysteine group after 24 weeks of treatment. The cognitive domain of working memory improved with N-acetylcysteine supplementation. Conclusion: Evidence supports the notion that N-acetylcysteine may be a useful adjunct to standard treatment for the improvement of schizophrenia symptoms, as well as the cognitive domain of working memory. Treatment effects were observed at the later time point (⩾24 weeks), suggesting that longer interventions are required for the success of N-acetylcysteine treatment.

Meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials with<i>N</i>-acetylcysteine in the treatment of schizophrenia

Meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials withN-acetylcysteine in the treatment of schizophrenia