Curcumin Addition to Antipsychotic Treatment in Chronic Schizophrenia Patients

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2017-05-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

Schizophrenia is still remained one of the disabling disorders despite progress in treatment of mental disturbances. Ten to thirty percents of patients have a little or no benefit from treatment with all kinds of antipsychotics using adequate dosages and duration. Treatment of these patients has remained a persistent public health problem since medication-resistant patients are often highly symptomatic. Curcumin is one of the main curcuminoids isolated from this perennial herb. It possesses a variety of pharmacological activities, including anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative, antioxidant, and neuroprotective effects and crosses the blood-brain barrier. The purpose of our suggested study is to examine the efficacy of curcumin as add-on the conventional antipsychotic psychopharmacotherapy in chronic schizophrenia patients.

• Phase: Phase 4
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Beersheva Mental Health Center
• Collaborator: Tirat Carmel Mental Health Center
• Treatments: Antipsychotic Agents; Curcumin

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age 18-60 years, male or female

• DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia.

• Ability and willingness to sign informed consent for participation in the study

• SANS (Scale of Negative Symptoms of Schizophrenia ) > 30 points

• Fixed antipsychotic dosages at least 3 months

• Steady mental state of patients at least 3 months

Exclusion Criteria:

• Current substance use disorder except nicotine dependence

• Regular use of NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)

• Cancer history

• Untreated or severe hypertension

• Poorly controlled diabetes mellitus Type I or Type II

• Chronic liver & gallbladder diseases

• Recent GERD (Gastroesophageal Reflux Disorder)

• Neurological disorders: epilepsy, stroke

• Hamilton Depression Scale Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D-17 item) > 24 points

• Patients with a known hypersensitivity to curcumin

• Pregnant women or a woman who intends to become pregnant