Effects of Bupropion on Cognitive Function in Schizophrenia: A Double Blind Randomized Controlled Trial

Smoking habits are common in schizophrenic patients. Nicotine can suppress negative symptoms and cognitive impairments. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of bupropion on cognitive function in schizophrenic patients. This study is a double blind randomized controlled trial in a large referral psychiatric university hospital in Iran. Ninety smoker schizophrenic patients were randomly allocated (based on DSM -IV TR criteria) in two groups (46 patients for case group and 44 patients in control group). They get risperidone up to 6 mg/d and bupropion up to 400 mg/d .clinical assessment (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Brief psychiatric rating scale (BPRS) were taken in beginning of study, 14th and 28th days of study. Cognitive assessment (Stroop, Digit Span, and Wechsler, Wisconsin) were taken in begging of study, the days 2nd, 7th, 14th, 28th. All data were analyzed by SPSS Ver. 17 with analytic and descriptive tests. Mean age of patients was 37.66±1.01. Mean duration of disorder was 11.63±.98 years. The scores were significantly lower at the day 28th compared to the beginning of the study in both groups in Wechsler, Stroop color word , Stroop word , Stroop color , BPRS, PANSS p value ≤0.05 .The difference between the two treatments was not significant as indicated by the effect of group, the between-subjects factor p value ≥0.05. In this study, the side effects were examined and there was no significant difference between the two groups p value ≥0.05. Augmentation of bupropion to routine treatment improves cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia in abstinence of tobacco.