Radar follow-up study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Research into Antipsychotic Discontinuation and Reduction: Follow-up study
IRAS ID
315210
Contact name
Joanna Moncrieff
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
North East London NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Antipsychotics are a medication given to people with schizophrenia and similar conditions. Schizophrenia is a serious mental health condition affecting 1% of the population. It causes a range of psychological symptoms involving a person's thoughts, feelings and behaviour. Antipsychotics can reduce the symptoms of schizophrenia in the short-term, but we do not know if they are useful in the long-term. This is important because most people take antipsychotics for many years. Antipsychotics can also have unpleasant and dangerous side-effects.
Past research has shown that some people who reduce or stop antipsychotic medication may do better in the long-run compared to people who keep taking it. We previously conducted a randomised controlled trial exploring what happens to people who reduce and come off their antipsychotic medication gradually with support from their doctor, compared to people who stay on it. This is called the RADAR study.
In the current study, we want to understand how things turn out in the long-run. In order to do this, we want to follow-up the people enrolled in the RADAR study a few years later to see how they are doing in the long-run. We enrolled 253 people in the RADAR study at the start. The proposed research will involve conducting a follow-up interview with as many of these participants as possible. The interview will take place between 4 and 7 years after people started the RADAR trial. Doing this long-term follow-up is important because some evidence suggests that people who reduce or stop their medication may have improved outcomes but the benefits only start after 3 to 4 years. In the follow-up interview, we will assess people's mental health, social functioning, quality of life and medication use and we will also obtain information from their medical records about any admissions to hospital.REC name
East of England - Essex Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/EE/0149
Date of REC Opinion
4 Jul 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion