Reduced polypharmacy in patients enrolled in the electronic schizophrenia adherence registry (E-STAR) and treated with risperidone long-acting injection (RLAI) for 6 months

Abstract

Objectives:

To evaluate changes in the use of non-antipsychotic concomitant medication related to schizophrenia in patients enrolled in e-STAR in Belgium (B), Spain (S) and Australia (A) who were initiated on RLAI.

Methods:

e-STAR is a secure web-based, international, long-term (1 year retrospective and 2 year prospective) ongoing observational study of schizophrenia patients who initiate a new antipsychotic drug during their routine clinical management. Data reported here are for patients enrolled to date in B, S and A who had information available about the use of concomitant medication at baseline and at 6 months after the start of RLAI.

Results:

Of 1,605 evaluable patients (B, n=180; S, n=919; A, n=506), 73.7% received concomitant non-antipsychotic medication at baseline. This proportion had reduced to 60.3% at 6 months after the start of RLAI (82.2% to 71.7% for B, p<0.001; 72.8% to 54.8% for S, p<0.001; 72.3% to 66.2% for A, p=0.01). Reductions between baseline and 6 months were overall: for anticholinergics 29.4% to 17.0% and for antidepressants 22.9% to 19.3% (each p<0.05 for B; p<0.001 for S); for mood stabilisers 17.6% to 15.8% (p=0.01 for S); for benzodiazepines 48.9% to 39.0% (p<0.001 for S; p=0.002 for A); for somatic medication 16.9% to 16.0%. Conclusions. Following the start of RLAI, the use of concomitant non-antipsychotic medication for the management of symptoms associated with schizophrenia or its treatment declined significantly at 6 months compared to baseline.