Effectiveness of switching from antipsychotic polypharmacy to monotherapy.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

This randomized trial addressed the risks and benefits of staying on antipsychotic polypharmacy or switching to monotherapy.

Method

Adult outpatients with schizophrenia taking two antipsychotics (127 participants across 19 sites) were randomly assigned to stay on polypharmacy or switch to monotherapy by discontinuing one antipsychotic. The trial lasted 6 months, with a 6-month naturalistic follow-up. Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analyses examined time to discontinuation of assigned antipsychotic treatment, and random regression models examined additional outcomes over time.

Results

Patients assigned to switch to monotherapy had shorter times to all-cause treatment discontinuation than those assigned to stay on polypharmacy. By month 6, 86% (N=48) of those

SUBMITTER: Essock SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3739691 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature