Brexpiprazole for anxiety symptoms in people living with schizophrenia: a plain language summary

Plain Language SummaryWhat is this summary about?Schizophrenia is a serious mental health condition that affects how a person thinks, feels, and understands the world. Many people with schizophrenia also have anxiety. Anxiety can affect people’s functioning (work, study, and socializing) and engagement with life (how motivated and interested they are in daily life).This summary describes research that combined results from five different clinical studies in adults with schizophrenia to see whether brexpiprazole (a type of atypical antipsychotic) improves anxiety, functioning, and engagement with life over short (6 weeks) and long (58 weeks) treatment periods.What were the results?Brexpiprazole reduced anxiety more than placebo. Functioning and engagement with life also improved during brexpiprazole treatment. These improvements were seen whether or not anxiety improved, but were more noticeable in people whose anxiety improved. Side effects in this combined research of five brexpiprazole studies were consistent with the individual studies, and similar in people with or without anxiety.What do the results mean?The results suggest brexpiprazole may be a useful option for people with schizophrenia, including those with anxiety. They also suggest that reducing anxiety may help people with schizophrenia feel more motivated, and capable of taking part in everyday activities.