Predicting outcome of neuroleptic treatment on the basis of subjective response and early clinical improvement.

The predictive value of the subjective response after 4 hours to an oral test dose of haloperidol and the predictive value of early clinical improvement during a 28-day, fixed-dose regimen with haloperidol were tested in 33 newly admitted schizophrenic patients. A significant (p less than .01) correlation was found between subjective response and therapeutic outcome on Day 28. Five of the 7 patients with dysphoric responses to the test dose had poor therapeutic outcomes. Powerful relationships were found between therapeutic outcome on Day 28 and clinical improvement observed from Day 2 on and between the outcome at discharge and improvement measured on Days 5 and 6.