The project is funded by the Innovation Fund of the German Federal Government (funding code: 01VSF19022). More information here.

Selecting the appropriate antipsychotic is a crucial medical decision in the treatment of schizophrenia. This decision requires not only the careful risk-benefit assessments of the different medications, but also the consideration of the preferences and values of the individual patient. Although there is well-established information about the efficacy and side-effect profiles of antipsychotics, there is still no framework on that combines medical evidence on antipsychotic with patient preferences and values within a shared decision-making process.

To address this issue, we have developed an evidence-based tool called Shared-Decision-Making assistant (SDM-assistant) for choosing antipsychotics. This tool can be used as a basis for shared-decision making by providing and visualizing information about the efficacy and side effects of different antipsychotics, based on high-quality network meta-analysis.

We are currently conducting a cluster-randomised trial in which we are comparing the use of the SDM-assistant with treatment as usual in hospitalized patients with schizophrenia.

If successful, implementing the SDM-assistant could improve evidence-based medicine in schizophrenia by incorporating patient preferences and values into treatment decisions. This would lead to better patient involvement in decision-making and more effective treatment choices.

The protocol was a priori registered to the German Clinical Trial Register (ID: DRKS00027316), and published in BMC Psychiatry:

Siafis S, Bursch N, Müller K, Schmid L, Schuster F, Waibel J, Huynh T, Matthes F, Rodolico A, Brieger P, Bühner M. Evidence-based Shared-Decision-Making Assistant (SDM-assistant) for choosing antipsychotics: protocol of a cluster-randomized trial in hospitalized patients with schizophrenia. BMC psychiatry. 2022 Jun 17;22(1):406. (Link)

Correspondence: Dr. Spyridon Siafis, email: spyridon.siafis@tum.de

Supervisor: Prof. Stefan Leucht, Prof. Johannes Hamann (previously co-supervisor together with Prof. Stefan Leucht)

EVENT Team (current): Stefan Leucht, Katharina Müller, Spyridon Siafis, Ivana Ivandic, Keelin Hyde, Natascha Wilde und Natalie Peter