Predicting age-specific dosing of antipsychotics.

Antipsychotic medications are the standard of care for both acute and maintenance treatment of schizophrenia, the latter requiring an indefinite treatment across a patient's life span. However, dosing and tolerability of antipsychotics have been studied primarily in younger patients, and very limited data are available for age- and phase-specific dosing. This leaves the clinician with no guidance on dose adjustment as patients grow older-an issue of critical importance, especially in light of recent concerns about increased morbidity and mortality associated with antipsychotics.