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Clinical Trial
. 1991 Jun;52(6):255-60.

A placebo-controlled trial of nadolol in the treatment of neuroleptic-induced akathisia

B G Wells  1 , J A Cold, P A Marken, C S Brown, C C Chu, R P Johnson, C S Nasdahl, M A Ayubi, D H Knott, K L Arheart
Affiliations
  • PMID: 1676029
Clinical Trial

A placebo-controlled trial of nadolol in the treatment of neuroleptic-induced akathisia

B G Wells et al. J Clin Psychiatry. 1991 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Although propranolol has been documented to be useful in treatment of neuroleptic-induced akathisia, preliminary anecdotal reports on the efficacy of nadolol in treatment of this condition are contradictory.

Method: To evaluate the efficacy of nadolol in treatment of this condition, a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in 20 psychiatric inpatients. Patients with akathisia of at least moderate severity were randomly assigned to receive nadolol 40 to 80 mg/day or placebo. Patients were rated daily for 4 days, then every other day for 15 days by means of the Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale.

Results: No significant differences were found between or within groups in subjective restlessness scores. In objective akathisia scores, there were no significant differences between groups; however, beginning at Day 9, both groups showed significant improvement compared with Day 1. There was no difference between groups in number of responders.

Conclusions: The authors' data do not support the efficacy of nadolol in the treatment of neuroleptic-induced akathisia and do not provide support for a peripheral site of action for beta-blockers in treatment of this condition.

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