Actual treatment outcomes are directed towards preventing relapses, instead of new perspective of functional recovery feasible with the achievement of a prolonged remission which is defined, according to Andreasen1, in severity criteria: PANSS items (P1, P2, P3, G5, G9, N1, N4, N6) scores <3 and duration criteria (maintenance of score for at least 26 weeks) here applied to 243 subjects with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder treated for 1 year with RLAI.

Although subjects were stable, only 14% of them met the PANSS severity criterion for remission at baseline with an increase to 45% after 1 year. 63% of subjects who were in remission at baseline maintained the criterion at the end of the study, while the 26% of subjects not in remission at baseline reached the criterion after 1 year. In addition, 32% of subjects met both severity and duration criteria for remission at 12 months. The decrease in PANSS total score from baseline (88.4+22.0) to 12 months (69.6+22.9; p<0.001) is associated to the remission (Chi Square test, p<0.001). At baseline, the difference in CGI-S and GAF scores between remitted subjects and non remitted is significant (p<0.001). In remitted subjects, the improvement in PANSS cognitive factor is higher (p<0.001) than that observed in non remitted subjects.

This study shows that RLAI treatment up to 1 year warrants efficacy maintenance with a significant and sustained symptom improvement, enabling the subjects to achieve and maintain the remission criteria for schizophrenia.