The Effectiveness of Treatments for Cocaine Dependence in Schizophrenic Patients: A Systematic Review

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate and compare the effectiveness of available treatments for cocaine dependence in schizophrenic patients. METHOD: We searched articles published between May 2002 and June 2012 in the following databases: Scopus, Pubmed and Web of Knowledge. The key words utilised were “schizophrenia”, "dementia praecox", "schizophrenic disorder", "cocaine related disorder", "cocaine abuse", "cocaine addiction", "cocaine dependence", “treatment”, “therapeutic”, and "drug therapy”. SELECTION OF STUDIES AND DATA EXTRACTION: Original articles in English, Portuguese and Spanish were selected. Controlled, double-blind and open-label studies involving only human subjects were included in this review. DATA SYNTHESIS: We found studies on typical and atypical antipsychotics and one monoamine transporter antagonist. There were few indications of the effectiveness of atypical antipsychotic medications for the treatment of cocaine dependence in patients with schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest that further studies be conducted with atypical antipsychotic medicationsand greater methodological strictness, including using a placebo group in the studies, so that health professionals can determine the real effectiveness of this class of medication for the treatment of cocaine dependence in schizophrenic patients.