Abstract
Objective The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of antipsychotic
drugs for tic disorders (TDs) in a network meta-analysis.
Methods PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, and 4 Chinese databases were searched. Randomized
controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the efficacy of antipsychotic drugs for TDs were
included.
Results Sixty RCTs were included. In terms of tic symptom score, compared with placebo,
haloperidol, risperidone, aripiprazole, quetiapine, olanzapine, and ziprasidone can
significantly improve tic symptom score (standardized mean differences [SMD] ranged
from −12.32 to −3.20). Quetiapine was superior to haloperidol, pimozide, risperidone,
tiapride, aripiprazole, and penfluridol for improving tic symptom score (SMD ranged
from −28.24 to −7.59). Compared with tiapride, aripiprazole could significantly improve
tic symptom score (SMD=−4.27). Compared with all other drugs, penfluridol was not
effective. Atypical antipsychotics were generally well tolerated.
Conclusions Atypical antipsychotics (risperidone and aripiprazole) appear to be the most robust
evidence-based options for the treatment of TDs. Quetiapine may be a promising therapy.
Ziprasidone and olanzapine are also effective, but the evidence is lacking. Further
high-quality directly comparing different pharmacological treatment studies are justified.
Key words
tic disorder - antipsychotic drug - systematic review - network meta-analysis