QT prolongation of the antipsychotic risperidone is predominantly related to its 9-hydroxy metabolite paliperidone

✍ Scribed by Yutaro Suzuki; Naoki Fukui; Junzo Watanabe; Shin Ono; Takuro Sugai; Nobuto Tsuneyama; Mami Saito; Yoshimasa Inoue; Toshiyuki Someya

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 150 KB
• Volume: 27
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0885-6222
• DOI: 10.1002/hup.1258

✦ Synopsis

Objective

A dose‐dependent increase in risk of sudden cardiac death for the antipsychotic drug risperidone was reported. However, few reports have so far addressed QT prolongation associated with the use of risperidone or its major active metabolite, which is also used as a separate antipsychotic drug, paliperidone.

Methods

The present study evaluated associations between risperidone metabolism and QT interval in 61 psychiatric patients who had been receiving risperidone for ≥4 weeks at an average dosage of 4.7 mg/day. Plasma risperidone and paliperidone levels were measured and electrocardiographic measurements were also obtained.

Results

There was no correlation between risperidone dosage and QTc or plasma risperidone levels and QTc. However, there was a significant positive correlation between plasma paliperidone levels and QTc (r = 0.361; p = 0.004). There was no correlation between age and dose‐corrected plasma risperidone levels or between age and QTc. There was a significant positive correlation between age and dose‐corrected plasma paliperidone levels (r = 0.290; p = 0.023).

Conclusion

Clinically, paliperidone is considered to play a more important role in QT prolongation than risperidone. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.