Antipsychotic medication and outcomes in schizophrenia from a lifespan perspective
Introduction Antipsychotic medications play an important role in schizophrenia, and their efficacy in the relapse prevention and treatment of acute psychotic symptoms is clear-cut. Objectives Data on the long-term use of antipsychotics and impact on prognostic issues is limited, although some previo...
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crcambridgeupr:10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.867 2024-06-09T07:48:33+00:00 Antipsychotic medication and outcomes in schizophrenia from a lifespan perspective Koponen, H. 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.867 https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0924933816008713?httpAccept=text/xml https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0924933816008713?httpAccept=text/plain https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0924933800221512 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms https://www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ European Psychiatry volume 33, issue S1, page S34-S34 ISSN 0924-9338 1778-3585 journal-article 2016 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.867 2024-05-15T13:16:55Z Introduction Antipsychotic medications play an important role in schizophrenia, and their efficacy in the relapse prevention and treatment of acute psychotic symptoms is clear-cut. Objectives Data on the long-term use of antipsychotics and impact on prognostic issues is limited, although some previous studies noted a high risk of relapse during the first two years after the first acute psychosis. Aims Our aim was to study the characteristics and clinical course of medicated and unmedicated schizophrenia patients. Methods The study population consisted of schizophrenia patients from the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort ( n = 70). Use of antipsychotics was examined in the follow-up interview by asking about the subjects’ medication history during the previous three months. The sample was divided into a non-medicated group ( n = 24) and a medicated group ( n = 46). Results Relapses during the follow-up were equally frequent between non-medicated and medicated subjects (47% vs. 53%). Not having been hospitalised during previous five years, but not previous two years, before the interview predicted long-term successful antipsychotic withdrawal without relapse. Fifteen of the subjects in the non-medicated group (63%) and 9 in the medicated group (20%) were in remission. Conclusions The present results imply that there are some individuals with schizophrenic psychoses not using antipsychotic medication whose psychotic illness and clinical course are so favourable that they do not necessarily need medication permanently. Changes in the antipsychotic dosing should not be made too fast and the patient and relatives should be able to contact without delay if exacerbation of psychotic symptoms is suspected. Disclosure of interest The author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest. Article in Journal/Newspaper Northern Finland Cambridge University Press European Psychiatry 33 S1 S34 S34 |
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Introduction Antipsychotic medications play an important role in schizophrenia, and their efficacy in the relapse prevention and treatment of acute psychotic symptoms is clear-cut. Objectives Data on the long-term use of antipsychotics and impact on prognostic issues is limited, although some previous studies noted a high risk of relapse during the first two years after the first acute psychosis. Aims Our aim was to study the characteristics and clinical course of medicated and unmedicated schizophrenia patients. Methods The study population consisted of schizophrenia patients from the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort ( n = 70). Use of antipsychotics was examined in the follow-up interview by asking about the subjects’ medication history during the previous three months. The sample was divided into a non-medicated group ( n = 24) and a medicated group ( n = 46). Results Relapses during the follow-up were equally frequent between non-medicated and medicated subjects (47% vs. 53%). Not having been hospitalised during previous five years, but not previous two years, before the interview predicted long-term successful antipsychotic withdrawal without relapse. Fifteen of the subjects in the non-medicated group (63%) and 9 in the medicated group (20%) were in remission. Conclusions The present results imply that there are some individuals with schizophrenic psychoses not using antipsychotic medication whose psychotic illness and clinical course are so favourable that they do not necessarily need medication permanently. Changes in the antipsychotic dosing should not be made too fast and the patient and relatives should be able to contact without delay if exacerbation of psychotic symptoms is suspected. Disclosure of interest The author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Koponen, H. |
spellingShingle |
Koponen, H. Antipsychotic medication and outcomes in schizophrenia from a lifespan perspective |
author_facet |
Koponen, H. |
author_sort |
Koponen, H. |
title |
Antipsychotic medication and outcomes in schizophrenia from a lifespan perspective |
title_short |
Antipsychotic medication and outcomes in schizophrenia from a lifespan perspective |
title_full |
Antipsychotic medication and outcomes in schizophrenia from a lifespan perspective |
title_fullStr |
Antipsychotic medication and outcomes in schizophrenia from a lifespan perspective |
title_full_unstemmed |
Antipsychotic medication and outcomes in schizophrenia from a lifespan perspective |
title_sort |
antipsychotic medication and outcomes in schizophrenia from a lifespan perspective |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.867 https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0924933816008713?httpAccept=text/xml https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0924933816008713?httpAccept=text/plain https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0924933800221512 |
genre |
Northern Finland |
genre_facet |
Northern Finland |
op_source |
European Psychiatry volume 33, issue S1, page S34-S34 ISSN 0924-9338 1778-3585 |
op_rights |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms https://www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2016.01.867 |
container_title |
European Psychiatry |
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33 |
container_issue |
S1 |
container_start_page |
S34 |
op_container_end_page |
S34 |
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1801380309795602432 |