Cao Y, Li PF, Zhu L, Li K, Duan XD, Bao YF, Sun HJ, He KJ. Guanxinning for antipsychotic-induced cardiotoxicity: A critical appraisal of emerging evidence. World J Psychiatry 2026; 16(10): 116333 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.116333]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Kuan-Jun He, PhD, Professor, College of Life Sciences and Food Engineering, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, No. 996 Xilamulun Street, Tongliao 028000, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. hekuanjun@imun.edu.cn
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Psychiatry
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review-article
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Cao Y, Li PF, Zhu L, Li K, Duan XD, Bao YF, Sun HJ, He KJ. Guanxinning for antipsychotic-induced cardiotoxicity: A critical appraisal of emerging evidence. World J Psychiatry 2026; 16(10): 116333 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.116333]
World J Psychiatry. Oct 19, 2026; 16(10): 116333 Published online Oct 19, 2026. doi: 10.5498/wjp.116333
Guanxinning for antipsychotic-induced cardiotoxicity: A critical appraisal of emerging evidence
Yang Cao, Peng-Fei Li, Lin Zhu, Ke Li, Xu-Dong Duan, Yu-Fei Bao, Hong-Jun Sun, Kuan-Jun He
Yang Cao, Lin Zhu, Ke Li, Xu-Dong Duan, Yu-Fei Bao, Kuan-Jun He, College of Life Sciences and Food Engineering, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao 028000, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
Peng-Fei Li, Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Minzu University, Tongliao 028000, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
Hong-Jun Sun, The Third People’s Hospital of Tongliao City, The Mental Health Center of Tongliao City, Tongliao 028000, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China
Co-first authors: Yang Cao and Peng-Fei Li.
Co-corresponding authors: Hong-Jun Sun and Kuan-Jun He.
Author contributions: Cao Y, Li PF, Zhu L, Li K, Duan XD, and Bao YF prepared the initial draft; Cao Y and Li PF contributed equally to this manuscript and are co-first authors; He KJ and Sun HJ were responsible for the study design, revising and updating the initial draft of the manuscript, and they contributed equally to this manuscript and are co-corresponding authors. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
AI contribution statement: DeepSeek and Grammarly were only used for language polishing and format adjustment. No AI tools were employed in any stage of research data generation, result interpretation, or conclusion deduction. All content generated by artificial intelligence has been carefully reviewed and revised by the author.
Supported by Natural Science Foundation of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, No. 2024 LHMS08003; and Science and Technology Program of the Joint Fund of Scientific Research for the Public Hospitals of Inner Mongolia Academy of Medical Sciences, No. 2024GLLH0844 and No. 2024GLLH0943.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Corresponding author: Kuan-Jun He, PhD, Professor, College of Life Sciences and Food Engineering, Inner Mongolia Minzu University, No. 996 Xilamulun Street, Tongliao 028000, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. hekuanjun@imun.edu.cn
Received: November 10, 2025 Revised: December 23, 2025 Accepted: January 14, 2026 Published online: October 19, 2026 Processing time: 336 Days and 5.7 Hours
Abstract
Antipsychotic drug induced cardiotoxicity is an important and unresolved clinical complication, with few preventive strategies beyond routine monitoring. A recent randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted by Luo et al. claimed that the traditional Chinese medicine Guanxinning might improve cardiac electrical parameters, function, and circulating biomarkers in schizophrenia patients with long-term use of antipsychotic drugs. However, the findings of their research based on surrogate endpoints in schizophrenia patients without cardiovascular disease limit their generalizability and clinical significance. The cardioprotective mechanisms, such as anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, are mostly inferential without direct molecular validation. This review focuses on the evidence that Guanxinning may be used as an adjunct to alleviate cardiac injury caused by antipsychotic drugs. For high-risk populations, larger-scale multicenter studies are needed to observe meaningful cardiovascular disease outcomes and confirm the therapeutic value of Guanxinning.
Core Tip: Guanxinning may have a certain effect on improving cardiotoxicity caused by antipsychotics. Some trials have found that long-term use of antipsychotics can affect cardiac electrophysiology, myocardial function and biomarkers. However, these findings are based on surrogate indicators and the study subjects have no prior cardiovascular disease, so their limitations are relatively large. Current evidence is not sufficient to support routine use, and its benefits are still in the preliminary stage. Larger-scale studies targeting high-risk populations and observing cardiovascular disease outcomes are needed to clarify the effect.
