Zhao JJ, Han CY, Xu GX, Zhou M, Jin ZM. Effect of lurasidone plus sulpiride on treatment efficacy, psychiatric manifestations, and quality of life among patients with schizophrenia. World J Psychiatry 2025; 15(10): 105932 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i10.105932]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Zhu-Ma Jin, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, No. 264 Guangzhou Road, Gulou District, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China. jinzhumamiya@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Psychiatry
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Psychiatry. Oct 19, 2025; 15(10): 105932 Published online Oct 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i10.105932
Effect of lurasidone plus sulpiride on treatment efficacy, psychiatric manifestations, and quality of life among patients with schizophrenia
Jing-Jing Zhao, Chong-Yang Han, Guo-Xin Xu, Min Zhou, Zhu-Ma Jin
Jing-Jing Zhao, Chong-Yang Han, Guo-Xin Xu, Min Zhou, Zhu-Ma Jin, Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China
Co-first authors: Jing-Jing Zhao and Chong-Yang Han.
Author contributions: Zhao JJ and Han CY performed the study conceptualization and design, statistical analyses, data quality assessment and manuscript preparation, drafted the initial manuscript, and reviewed and revised the paper as the co-first authors; Xu GX and Zhou M contributed to the data acquisition; Jin ZM contributed to the data interpretation; All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethic Committee of The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University.
Informed consent statement: Patients were not required to give informed consent to the study because the analysis used anonymous clinical data that were obtained after each patient agreed to treatment by written consent.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Data sharing statement: The data analyzed in this study is available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zhu-Ma Jin, Associate Chief Physician, Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, No. 264 Guangzhou Road, Gulou District, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu Province, China. jinzhumamiya@163.com
Received: May 20, 2025 Revised: July 2, 2025 Accepted: July 21, 2025 Published online: October 19, 2025 Processing time: 128 Days and 23.6 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
First-generation antipsychotics demonstrate certain therapeutic benefits in schizophrenia; however, they often fail to significantly address negative symptoms. Thus, continued exploration is essential to refine these treatments.
AIM
To examine lurasidone plus sulpiride influence on treatment efficacy, psychiatric symptoms, and quality of life in patients with schizophrenia.
METHODS
A total of 110 patients with schizophrenia, admitted between October 2021 and October 2024, were recruited for this study. The control group (n = 50) received sulpiride alone. Conversely, the observation group (n = 60) was treated with a combination of lurasidone and sulpiride. A series of assessments were conducted to compare the two groups. These included evaluating treatment efficacy; recording the incidence of adverse events such as fatigue, xerostomia, insomnia, anorexia, and headache; assessing psychiatric symptoms using the positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS); evaluating cognitive and social functions using the repeatable battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status (RBANS), and the personal and social performance scale (PSP); measuring quality of life using the schizophrenia quality of life scale (SQLS); and analyzing serum markers including interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-17, and prolactin (PRL).
RESULTS
Overall treatment efficacy was significantly higher in the observation group than in the control group. The total incidence of adverse events was comparable between the two groups. After treatment, the scores for positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and general psychopathological symptoms on the PANSS in the observation group were significantly reduced compared to pretreatment levels, and were also lower than those in the control group. Additionally, RBANS and PSP scores in the observation group significantly increased post-treatment and were notably higher than in the control group. Regarding the quality of life, SQLS scores in the psychosocial, symptoms, and side effects and motivation and energy dimensions in the observation group were significantly lower after treatment than both baseline levels and those in the control group. Furthermore, post-treatment levels of IL-6 and IL-17 in the observation group were significantly reduced and lower than those in the control group, whereas the PRL level was significantly elevated.
CONCLUSION
The combination of lurasidone and sulpiride can effectively enhance treatment efficacy, alleviate psychiatric symptoms, and improve quality of life in patients with schizophrenia, supporting its broader clinical use.
Core Tip: Although first-generation antipsychotics have limited effectiveness against the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, sulpiride combined with lurasidone may offer superior results. This study suggests that, compared with sulpiride monotherapy, the combined approach enhances treatment efficacy safely, with patients experiencing fewer psychiatric symptoms, improved cognitive and social functioning, and better quality of life. It also helps normalize abnormal levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6), IL-17, and prolactin.
