Effect of two long-acting treatments, the paliperidone palmitate 1-month and 3-month formulations on caregiver burden in European patients with schizophrenia

Introduction Schizophrenia puts a significant burden on caregivers. Objectives To explore the effects of two long-acting treatments (LAT), paliperidone palmitate 1-month and 3-month formulations on caregiver burden (CGB) in European patients with schizophrenia using the Involvement Evaluation Questionnaire (IEQ) Aims To conduct a subgroup analysis of two randomized, double-blind studies ( NCT01515423 and NCT01529515 ). Methods Caregivers (≥ 1 h of contact/week with the patients) were offered to complete the IEQ (31 items, each scoring: 0–4; total score: sum of 27 items [0–108]). Results Among 756 European caregivers (53% parents, 18% spouse/partner or girl/boyfriend, 10% sister/brother), 60% reported a CGB of ≥ 32 hours/week at open-label baseline (BL-OL). CGB reduced significantly for patients with both BL-OL and at least one double-blind IEQ sum-score ( n  = 433): mean improvement [SD] (9.9 [12.66], P P P P P Conclusion Switching from an oral antipsychotic to an LAT can provide a meaningful and significant improvement in caregiver burden.