[Rationale for the use of long-acting injectable risperidone: a survey of French psychiatrists]

Tailored intervention to prevent relapses and hospitalization in a migrant suffering from paranoid schizophrenia

Adherence issues combined with inequitable access to healthcare may increase the risk of discontinuation of care for undocumented migrants with severe mental health illness.

An Ethiopian man with paranoid schizophrenia who relapsed several times after hospitalization was identified by a humanitarian outreach team in Brussels. The team built a relationship with him by offering him access to services including accommodation and mental health care. A treatment buddy was identified to support him adhering to his treatment and accompany him while hospitalized. Effective collaboration between Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and the hospital led to MSF ensuring continuum of care in an outpatient service with the support of the treatment buddy for treatment adherence. The patient was empowered to adhere to medication and attend appointments after hospitalization. After 6 weeks, the man became autonomous with treatment, coming for his injections and collecting his medication every 2 weeks. There has been no relapse requiring hospitalization since.

Long-acting injectable antipsychotics for the treatment of schizophrenia in Spain

Antipsychotics are an essential component in the treatment of schizophrenia. Long-acting injectable formulations (LAI) arose to improve adherence with the associated potential of reducing the risk of relapse. The objective of this article is to analyze the use of LAI antipsychotics in Spain, which is similar to other European countries but with a predominance of the use of second generation LAI, to discuss the possible causes of prescribing differences with respect to other countries (including organizational aspects, attitudes of psychiatrists, patients and family members, and clinical practice guidelines), and to discuss their use in acute psychiatric units, first episode, and in children and adolescents. In our view, while it is necessary to increase existing evidence regarding the advantages of LAI antipsychotics and the differentiation between LAI antipsychotics currently available, their use will likely continue to grow driven by clinical experience.

Efficacy of shared decision-making on treatment adherence of patients with bipolar disorder: a cluster randomized trial (ShareD-BD)

BACKGROUND

Shared decision-making (SDM) is a model of interaction between doctors and patients in which both actors contribute to the medical decision-making process. SDM has raised great interest in mental healthcare over the last decade, as it is considered a fundamental part of patient-centered care. However, there is no research evaluating the efficacy of SDM compared to usual care (CAU), as it relates to quality of care and more specifically treatment adherence, in bipolar disorder (BD).

METHODS/DESIGN

This is a 12-month multi-centre, cluster-randomized controlled trial comparing the efficacy of SDM to CAU. Adult BD patients (n = 300) will be eligible after stabilization for at least 4 weeks following an acute mood episode. The intervention will consist of applying the standardized SDM process as developed by the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute in order to choose the maintenance treatment of BD. A multidisciplinary team developed a decision aid "choose my long-term treatment with my doctor" for BD patients to clarify possible therapeutic options. Primary outcome will assess the patient's level of adherence (based on hetero-evaluation) of ongoing treatment at 12 months. Secondary outcomes will assess the difference between the 2 groups of patients in terms of adherence to maintenance drug therapy based on other measures (self-assessment scale and plasma levels of mood stabilizers). Additionally, other dimensions will be assessed: decisional conflict, satisfaction with care and involvement in decision making, beliefs about treatment, therapeutic relationship, knowledge about information for medical decision and clinical outcomes (depression, mania, functioning and quality of life). The primary endpoint will be analysed without adjustment by comparison of adherence scores between the two groups using Student t-tests or Mann-Whitney tests according to the variable distribution. A set of secondary analyses will be adjusted for covariates of clinical interest using generalized linear mixed regression models.

DISCUSSION

This will be the first study evaluating the effect of an SDM intervention on patient adherence in BD. This is also an innovative protocol because it proposes the development of an evidence-based tool that should help patients and clinicians to initiate discussions regarding the use of BD treatment.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

The study has been registered with ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT03245593 .

[Psychiatrists' decision making and monitoring of antipsychotic prescription for elderly schizophrenia patients]

OBJECTIVE

Advancing age entails specific treatment modalities for patients with schizophrenia. The choice of appropriate antipsychotic therapy (AP) and the monitoring of treatment is a major challenge. However, little is known about the real-world prescribing practices of psychiatrists for elderly schizophrenia patients. The aim of this study was to assess prescribing practices and treatment monitoring in elderly schizophrenia patients and whether socio-professional psychiatrists' characteristics are related to their practices.

METHODS

We contacted by mail 190 psychiatrists to take part in an observational survey of their AP prescribing practices for elderly (aged over 65) schizophrenia patients.

RESULTS

The response rate was 44.2%, and of the psychiatrists who replied 75% were treating elderly schizophrenia patients. A second-generation AP (SGAP) was prescribed as first-line of treatment by 87.7% of the psychiatrists. The most frequently used SGAPs were risperidone and olanzapine (respectively preferred by 54.4% and 19.3% of the psychiatrists taking part). At the beginning of treatment, 91.1% of the psychiatrists prescribed a lower dose than for middle-aged patients. Of the psychiatrists taking part, 64.9% prescribed monotherapy; and among these psychiatrists, 65% cited insufficient control of the disease as the reason for their choice, while 48.7% of those who elected not to prescribe combined AP did so in order to limit the side-effects. Of the psychiatrists taking part, 54.4% prescribed long-acting injectable AP (LAAP); better therapeutic compliance and alliance was the main argument in the choice of LAAP given by the psychiatrists taking part who prescribed the drug, whereas the absence of indications and problems of tolerance were arguments against for those who did not. "Personal experience" emerged as the governing factor in the choice of AP. The AP side-effect profile was the main criterion of choice of the AP agent for 3.5% of the psychiatrists taking part, and the most frequently chosen secondary criterion (29.8%). Monitoring of treatment was partly performed according to professional recommendations: pre-treatment and post-prescription assessments of waist circumference and ophthalmological monitoring were very infrequent (8.8 to 18.5%) as were pre-treatment and early post-prescription assessments of prolactinaemia (14.8 to 20.4%); long-term cardiac monitoring was infrequent (43.9%). The psychiatrists taking part whose first-line drug was SGAP were more familiar with professional recommendations than those who prescribed first generation antipsychotic (FGA) drugs (72% as against 14.3%, P=0.006). Of the psychiatrists taking part in the study, 64.9% reported they commonly use professional recommendations. Psychiatrists who declared they commonly use professional recommendations measured pulse rate and blood pressure significantly more often over the long-term than those who did not (74.3% as against 41.2%, P=0.0315). They also measured waist circumference over the long-term significantly more often than psychiatrists who did not commonly use professional recommendations (22.9% as against 0%, P=0.0420). Psychiatrists treating more than ten of these patients yearly measured significantly more often over the long-term pulse rate and blood pressure than those treating fewer patients (80% as against 50%, P=0.0399). Over the long-term monitoring, psychiatrists with a larger number of elderly schizophrenia patients in their care also performed more often fasting blood glucose test, lipid profile and referral for cardiac consultation with ECG (respectively, 95.5% as against 70.8%, P=0.0489; 90.9% as against 58.3%, P=0.0182; 81.8% as against 29.2%, P<0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

The results of this survey need to be confirmed in a larger population sample. The antipsychotic prescribing practices were broadly in agreement with current recommendations except for the tolerance profile which was not the first element taken into account in the choice of the AP agent. Some clinical and paraclinical medical examinations were carried out infrequently, in particular cardiac monitoring over the long-term, which is essential in this elderly patient population. One important element to emerge from our results was that common use of professional recommendations is associated with better monitoring.

Medication adherence in patients with psychotic disorders: an observational survey involving patients before they switch to long-acting injectable risperidone

BACKGROUND

Maintaining antipsychotic therapy in psychosis is important in preventing relapse. Long-acting depot preparations can prevent covert non-adherence and thus potentially contribute to better patient outcomes. In this observational survey the main objective is to evaluate medication adherence and its determinants for oral treatment in a large sample of patients with psychosis.

METHODS

In this cross-sectional survey medication adherence for oral treatment was assessed by patients using the patient-rated Medication Adherence Questionnaire (MAQ). Data were collected by physicians on patients with a recent acute psychotic episode before switching to long-acting injectable risperidone. Other evaluations included disease severity (Clinical Global Impression - Severity), patients' insight (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale item G12), treatment acceptance (clinician-rated Compliance Rating Scale), and therapeutic alliance (patient-rated 4-Point ordinal Alliance Scale).

RESULTS

A total of 399 psychiatrists enrolled 1,887 patients (mean age 36.8±11.9 years; 61.6% had schizophrenia). Adherence to oral medication was "low" in 53.2% of patients, "medium" in 29.5%, and "high" in 17.3%. Of patients with psychiatrist-rated active acceptance of treatment, 70% had "medium" or "high" MAQ scores (P<0.0001). Medication adherence was significantly associated with therapeutic alliance (4-Point ordinal Alliance Scale score; P<0.0001). Patient age was significantly associated with adherence: mean age increased with greater adherence (35.6, 36.7, and 38.6 years for patients with "low", "medium", and "high" levels of adherence, respectively; P=0.0007), while age <40 years was associated with "low" MAQ classification (P=0.0003). Poor adherence was also associated with a diagnosis of schizophrenia (P=0.0083), more severe disease (Clinical Global Impression - Severity ≥4; P<0.0001), and lower insight (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale-G12 ≥4; P<0.0001).

CONCLUSION

Self-reported adherence was low in most patients, with a strong positive association between self-reported adherence and psychiatrists' assessment of treatment acceptance. Understanding factors associated with poor medication adherence may help physicians to better manage their patients, thereby improving outcomes.