Antipsychotic formulation and one-year rehospitalization of Schizophrenia patients: A population-based cohort study

Objective: The authors compared the efficacy of long-acting injectable antipsychotics and oral antipsychotics on rehospitalization rate of community-dwelling patients with schizophrenia who had frequent admissions. Methods: The cohort study of 14,610 patients was conducted by analyzing the Taiwan National Health Research Institutes data. The patients were divided into groups that received oral antipsychotics (risperidone, a different second-generation antipsychotic, or a first-generation antipsychotic) or long-acting injectable antipsychotics (risperidone, haloperidol, or flupenthixol). Results: One-year rehospitalization rates of the final cohort of 10,552 patients were the same for both groups (by long-acting injection, 27.3%; by oral administration, 27.3%). Secondary analysis of groups receiving long-acting injectable medication showed that haloperidol resulted in lower rehospitalization rates (haloperidol, 22.5%; risperidone, 27.1%; and flupenthixol, 29.5%). Patients' characteristics, including age, region, and insurance payments were significantly correlatedwith the risk of relapse (p<.05). Conclusions: Except for injectable haloperidol, long-acting injectable antipsychotics seem not to be superior to oral antipsychotics in reducing rehospitalization.