Adverse effects of phenothiazines in chronic schizophrenic patients

Abstract

A high dose of phenothiazines may develop extrapyramidal reaction and they may interact with other drugs leading to different adverse effects. This study was conducted to show the possible adverse effects of a combination of drugs from the phenothiazine family. A case series from psychiatric unit were collected during the period from the 1st of September 1997 to the end of December 1998. The study included 1060 chronic schizophrenic patients receiving combined phenothiazine therapy. The results revealed that the adverse effects in 145 (13.7%) patients. The most common adverse effects were drowsiness 5.9%, anticholinergic effects 2.6% and hypertension 2%. Other less common effects were extrapyramidal 1.2%, dermatological 1%, weight gain 0.9%. The study concludes that many adverse effects of phenothiazines were revealed and drowsiness with other anticholinergic effects was more dominant