New Study Showed Efficacy was Most Important Factor in Decision to Stay on Antipsychotic Treatment for Schizophrenia
May 23 2005 - 3:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
New Study Showed Efficacy was Most Important Factor in Decision to
Stay on Antipsychotic Treatment for Schizophrenia Findings also
showed patients taking olanzapine stayed on treatment longer than
other antipsychotics ATLANTA, May 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
People taking atypical antipsychotics for schizophrenia were most
likely to discontinue therapy due to continued presence of
psychiatric symptoms, according to data presented today at the
158th annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
Findings also revealed that patients taking olanzapine were
significantly more likely to remain on medication longer than
patients taking other atypical and conventional antipsychotics.
"Schizophrenia is a chronic disease that requires lifelong therapy.
Finding a medication to which patients will adhere is essential,"
said Michael Stevens, M.D., director of Psychopharmacology Research
at Valley Mental Health in Salt Lake City, Utah. "These data
demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia were more likely to
stay on medication longer with olanzapine compared to other
antipsychotics." Almost 60 percent of people with schizophrenia do
not take their medications as prescribed by their physicians.(1)
According to the APA's guidelines for the treatment of
schizophrenia, 60 to 70 percent of patients relapse within one year
without maintenance treatment and almost 90 percent relapse within
two years.(2) Key Findings In the study, "Differential Rates of
Treatment Discontinuation in Clinical Trials as a Measure of
Treatment Effectiveness of Atypical Antipsychotics," researchers
reviewed treatment discontinuation rates and reasons for
discontinuation from four 24 to 28 week randomized, double-blind
clinical trials involving 1627 patients with schizophrenia taking
widely prescribed atypical antipsychotics (olanzapine, risperidone,
quetiapine and ziprasidone). The study compared discontinuation
rates and the probability of staying on medication for patients
taking olanzapine against patients taking the other atypicals.
According to the study: * Olanzapine-treated patients (n=822) were
significantly more likely to stay on medication longer (19.1 vs.
16.1 weeks, p.