Prescription profiles for pharmacological treatment of Japanese inpatients with schizophrenia: comparison between 2007 and 2009
✍ Scribed by Takashi Yoshio; Toshiya Inada; Junji Uno; Takaichi Miwa; Kohei Kitagawa; Yoshiki Miyahara; Kenta Umeda; Tsuyoshi Kato; Ataru Inagaki; Toshitaka Nabeshima
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2012
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 473 KB
- Volume
- 27
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0885-6222
- DOI
- 10.1002/hup.1272
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Background and Objective
Pharmacological treatment of schizophrenic patients in Japan is characterized by polypharmacy with high doses of antipsychotics. In this study, we examined the profiles of antipsychotic drug therapy in 2007 and 2009 to determine if there have been any recent shifts in treatment strategy.
Method
The subjects were schizophrenic inpatients (ICD‐10‐F20) admitted to 100 hospitals in 2007 and 152 hospitals in 2009. Information on the psychotropic agents prescribed on specified days in November 2007 and 2009 was acquired for each patient.
Results
Although no changes were observed in the rate of antipsychotic medications being prescribed, the rate of antipsychotic monotherapy in 2009 increased significantly. In 2007, among 15,761 patients, 4977 (31.6%) received antipsychotic monotherapy (i.e., administration of a single antipsychotic medication). In 2009, among 22,911 patients, 7741 (33.8%) received antipsychotic monotherapy.
Conclusion
The rate of use of antipsychotic monotherapy has gradually increased, although the total dose has not changed significantly. The increase in the concomitant use of two or more second‐generation antipsychotics is a recent trend in Japan, despite the lack of information on the efficacy and safety of this treatment strategy. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.