Highlights
- •This study aimed to compare the effect of long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) with oral antipsychotics (OAPs) on time to rehospitalization within 1 year of discharge in elderly patients with schizophrenia.
- •The LAIs group had a significantly lower rehospitalization rate and a significantly longer time to rehospitalization within 1 year of discharge than the OAPs group. The prescription rate of second-generation LAIs grew significantly during the study period.
- •LAIs were found superior to OAPs in preventing rehospitalization in elderly patients with schizophrenia.
Abstract
Objective
The effectiveness of long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) in elderly patients
with schizophrenia remains unclear. This study aimed to compare the effect of LAIs
with oral antipsychotics (OAPs) on time to rehospitalization within 1 year of discharge
in this population. Other factors potentially associated with time to rehospitalization
and trends in LAI prescription rates during the study period were also investigated.
Methods
Patients over 60 years of age with schizophrenia discharged between 2006 and 2017
were followed for 1 year under naturalistic conditions. Survival analysis was used
in the comparison between LAIs and OAPs regarding time to rehospitalization. Covariates
thought to affect time to rehospitalization were also analyzed. The Cochran-Armitage
trend test was used to evaluate whether a time trend existed for LAI prescription
rates.
Results
The LAIs group had a significantly lower rehospitalization rate and a significantly
longer time to rehospitalization within 1 year of discharge than the OAPs group. Other
factors that were associated with a longer time to rehospitalization included a shorter
index hospitalization during the time of the study and fewer previous hospitalizations.
No significant time trend was found for LAI prescription rates during the study period.
However, the prescription rate of second-generation LAIs grew significantly.
Conclusion
LAIs were found superior to OAPs in preventing rehospitalization. A continuous increase
in second-generation LAI prescription rate may be due to the better side-effect profile
of second-generation LAIs compared to first-generation LAIs. More studies investigating
the effectiveness of LAIs in elderly patients with schizophrenia are needed in the
future.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 09, 2019
Accepted:
August 5,
2019
Received in revised form:
August 3,
2019
Received:
May 7,
2019
Footnotes
Previous Presentation: None.
Identification
Copyright
© 2019 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
