Carmen Pfiffner

Effects of polypharmacy on outcome in patients with schizophrenia in routine psychiatric treatment.

Längle G, Steinert T, Weiser P, Schepp W, Jaeger S, Pfiffner C, Frasch K, Eschweiler GW, Messer T, Croissant D, Becker T, Kilian R. Effects of polypharmacy on outcome in patients with schizophrenia in routine psychiatric treatment.

Psychotropic drug treatment, clinical characteristics and cognitive processing speed in patients with schizophrenia: results from the ELAN study.

INTRODUCTION Psychotropic drug combinations (PDC) are common in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia but there is little research regarding the effects of PDC on cognition. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to analyse the effects of antipsychotic monotherapy and various types of PDC on cognitive processing speed (CPS). METHODS ELAN is a 24-month multi-site prospective observational controlled trial following up 374 patients with schizophrenia under routine treatment conditions following discharge from inpatient treatment. The propensity score method, multinomial logistic regression analyses and mixed effects regression models were used. RESULTS CPS correlated significantly with PANSS and GAF scores and improved over time in the monotherapy group. Negative effects of some PDC (antipsychotics + tranquilizers/antipsychotics+at least 2 other psychopharmacological subclasses, sedative/anticholinergic drugs/high adjusted antipsychotic dose) lost significance after controlling for clinical characteristics. DISCUSSION Indications for PDC should be examined with care although, in the present study, effects on cognition were small.

PW01-186 - Effects of longterm treatment with atypical neuroleptics for patients with schizophrenia (ELAN): medication use, adherence, functional impairment, quality of life

Objectives Collecting prospective data on medication adherence, course of illness, course of treatment, cost effectiveness and quality of life among patients with schizophrenia under the German health system. Methods The ELAN study was conducted as a multi-centre, non-interventional observation study. 374 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (ICD-10 F2) who had been discharged with a medication of quetiapine (N=183), olanzapine (N=91) or risperidone (N=100) were included. Follow-up interviews were conducted after 6,12,18 and 24 months. Applied instruments comprised PANSS, MARS-S, EPS-M, AIMS-S, GAF, ZST and a questionnaire for quality of life. Results For each follow-up, at least 80% of the original sample could be included. After two years, between 39% and 43% of patients continued to take the drug prescribed at discharge. Only between 4% and 7% of patients received no neuroleptic treatment in the last 6 months, respectively. The variety of drugs used increased during the course. Only small differences could be found regarding the defined outcome measures (PANSS, GAF, rehospitalisation rate) and side effects. Changes in medication were mostly due to insufficient efficacy or side effects. Doctors recommendations had an important influence on patients’ decisions. Conclusions Under conditions of routine treatment, medication adherence was much greater and differences between drugs were smaller than reported in randomised controlled clinical trials. Taking into account the low sample selection bias and the small percentage of lost-to-follow-up subjects, this study provides some new insight into routine clinical treatment and outcomes in patients with schizophrenia.

W05-03 - A Multi-Centre Pragmatic Trial of Antipsychotic Drug Treatment

The ELAN study is a prospective multi centre observational trial on the effectiveness and safety of long-term antipsychotic treatment of people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorders with quetiapine in comparison to olanzapine and risperidone under real world treatment conditions. 374 adult persons with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder prescribed antipsychotic maintenance therapy with quetiapine, olanzapine or risperidone were included at discharge from inpatient treatment. Psychotropic regimen, psychopathological symptoms, general and cognitive functioning, negative side-effects and quality of life were assessed before discharge and at 6, 12, 18 and 24 month follow-up assessments. Intention-to-treat analyses and crossover analyses were conducted by mixed-effects regression models including random linear time effects and time x treatment effects, controlling for baseline differences and additional psychotropic medication and using propensity scores to control for selection bias. As indicated by significant linear time effects the patients improved with regard to psychopathological symptoms, general functioning, subjective quality of life and cognitive processing speed. No change of extrapyramidal motor side-effects, body mass index or waist circumference was obtained. The lack of any significant time x treatment interaction effects indicated no differences in the safety or effectiveness between the three antipsychotics. Nevertheless, the average hospital admission rate of patients receiving olanzapine was lower in comparison to patients receiving quetiapine or risperidone.

P03-68 - Are there effects of the type of antipsychotic medication on the subjective quality of life in patients suffering from schizophrenia?

We investigated whether the type of antipsychotic treatment has an impact on patients’ subjective quality of life (QoL). In a prospective naturalistic long-term study, 374 patients meeting ICD-10 criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were examined biannually over a two-year period with regards to QoL, psychopathology, social functioning, use of medical and psychosocial services, compliance, side effects and current neuroleptic treatment. QoL was assessed by the Berliner Lebensqualitatsprofil (BeLP), an adaption of the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile. First examination took place two weeks around discharge from a psychiatric clinic. At study entry, all participants were receiving neuroleptic medication of either quetiapine, risperidone or olanzapine. Mixed regression analysis taking into account the unbalanced panel structure of the data and adjusted for selection bias by means of propensity scores were used for data analysis. Overall quality of life improved continuously during the two years observed period regardless of the type of neuroleptic. A small, but significant difference emerged when comparing quetiapine monotherapy treatment with olanzapine monotherapy or with a combination treatment of conventional and atypical antipsychotics. QoL of patients treated with olanzapine was generally worse than that of patients treated with quetiapine but improved slightly more over the course of time. In total time and type of medication explained only small proportions of variance in QoL. Type of neuroleptic had only marginal impact on the subjective QoL of our sample. In order to explain changes in quality of life, research on social and individual factors seems to be more promising.