Achieving greater continuation of treatment is a key
element to improve treatment outcomes in
schizophrenia patients. However, reported treatment continuation can differ markedly depending on the study design. In a retrospective setting, treatment continuation remains overall poor among patients using
antipsychotics. This study aimed to document the difference in treatment continuation between four long-acting
injectable antipsychotics based on the QuintilesIMS LRx databases, national, longitudinal, panel based prescription databases of retail pharmacies, in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Paliperidone palmitate once monthly,
risperidone microspheres,
haloperidol decanoate, and
olanzapine pamoate were studied. This study demonstrated significantly higher treatment continuation of
paliperidone palmitate once monthly compared to
risperidone microspheres (p-value<0,01) and
haloperidol decanoate (p-value<0,01) in both countries, a significantly higher treatment continuation of
paliperidone palmitate once monthly compared to
olanzapine pamoate in the Netherlands (p-value<0,01), and a general trend towards better treatment continuation versus
olanzapine pamoate in Belgium. Analysing the subgroup of patients without previous exposure to long-acting
antipsychotic treatment revealed the positive impact of previous exposure on treatment continuation with a subsequent long acting treatment. Additionally, the probability of restarting the index
therapy was higher among patients treated with
paliperidone palmitate once monthly compared to patients treated with
risperidone microspheres and
haloperidol decanoate. The data source used and the methodology defined ensured for the first time a comparison of treatment continuation in a non-interventional study design for the four long-acting
injectable antipsychotics studied.