PMID- 21812996
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20111212
LR  - 20211020
IS  - 1471-244X (Electronic)
IS  - 1471-244X (Linking)
VI  - 11
DP  - 2011 Aug 3
TI  - Previous hospital admissions and disease severity predict the use of 
      antipsychotic combination treatment in patients with schizophrenia.
PG  - 126
LID - 10.1186/1471-244X-11-126 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: Although not recommended in treatment guidelines, previous studies 
      have shown a frequent use of more than one antipsychotic agent among patients 
      with schizophrenia. The main aims of the present study were to explore the 
      antipsychotic treatment regimen among patients with schizophrenia in a catchment 
      area-based sample and to investigate clinical characteristics associated with 
      antipsychotic combination treatment. METHODS: The study included 329 patients 
      diagnosed with schizophrenia using antipsychotic medication. Patients were 
      recruited from all psychiatric hospitals in Oslo. Diagnoses were obtained by use 
      of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders (SCID-I). 
      Additionally, Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), Positive and Negative 
      Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and number of hospitalisations and pharmacological 
      treatment were assessed. RESULTS: Multiple hospital admissions, low GAF scores 
      and high PANSS scores, were significantly associated with the prescription of 
      combination treatment with two or more antipsychotics. The use of combination 
      treatment increased significantly from the second hospital admission. Combination 
      therapy was not significantly associated with age or gender. Regression models 
      confirmed that an increasing number of hospital admission was the strongest 
      predictor of the use of two or more antipsychotics. CONCLUSIONS: Previous 
      hospital admissions and disease severity measured by high PANSS scores and low 
      GAF scores, predict the use of antipsychotic combination treatment in patients 
      with schizophrenia. Future studies should further explore the use of 
      antipsychotic drug treatment in clinical practice and partly based on such data 
      establish more robust treatment guidelines for patients with persistently high 
      symptom load.
FAU - Bolstad, Albert
AU  - Bolstad A
AD  - Department of Psychiatry Research, Diakonhjemmet Hospital, P.O. Box 85 Vinderen, 
      Oslo 0319, Norway. albert.bolstad@diakonsyk.no
FAU - Andreassen, Ole A
AU  - Andreassen OA
FAU - Rossberg, Jan I
AU  - Rossberg JI
FAU - Agartz, Ingrid
AU  - Agartz I
FAU - Melle, Ingrid
AU  - Melle I
FAU - Tanum, Lars
AU  - Tanum L
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20110803
PL  - England
TA  - BMC Psychiatry
JT  - BMC psychiatry
JID - 100968559
RN  - 0 (Antipsychotic Agents)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adolescent
MH  - Adult
MH  - Antipsychotic Agents/*administration & dosage/*therapeutic use
MH  - Drug Therapy, Combination/*statistics & numerical data
MH  - Female
MH  - Hospitalization/*statistics & numerical data
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Psychiatric Status Rating Scales/statistics & numerical data
MH  - Schizophrenia/*diagnosis/*drug therapy
MH  - Severity of Illness Index
PMC - PMC3160878
EDAT- 2011/08/05 06:00
MHDA- 2011/12/14 06:00
PMCR- 2011/08/03
CRDT- 2011/08/05 06:00
PHST- 2010/09/10 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2011/08/03 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2011/08/05 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2011/08/05 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2011/12/14 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2011/08/03 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 1471-244X-11-126 [pii]
AID - 10.1186/1471-244X-11-126 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - BMC Psychiatry. 2011 Aug 3;11:126. doi: 10.1186/1471-244X-11-126.