Plasma levels of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol levels, number of hospitalization and cognitive function predicts the cognitive effect of atypical antipsychotic monotherapy in patients with acute schizophrenia

Although the effects of atypical antipsychotics with regard to improving neurocognitive function are not sufficiently high. The present study applied an atypical antipsychotic monotherapy for patients with acute schizophrenia to (1) examine the percentage of patients who respond well to this treatment, (2) explore the factors that predict response (e.g. the improvement of neurocognition), and (3) identify the factors associated with improved neurocognitive function. We studied 40 patients with acute schizophrenia who had received atypical antipsychotic monotherapy for 24 weeks. The following parameters were evaluated at baseline and 24 weeks after the start of treatment: psychotic symptoms, neurocognitive function, and blood biological markers including homovanillic acid, 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Marked improvements in neurocognitive function were noted in 7.5%-25% of patients. The factors that significantly predicted neurocognitive function improvement were the frequency of hospitalization (verbal memory and verbal fluency), 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (verbal fluency and executive function), and verbal memory (working memory). Approximately 20% of the patients showed good response to treatment with antipsychotics. Frequency of hospitalization, 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol level, and other parameters predicted responsiveness to these drug therapies. Thus, it might be useful to apply these factors to predict responses to treatment.