Does long-acting injectable risperidone make a difference to the real-life treatment of schizophrenia? Results of the Cohort for the General study of Schizophrenia (CGS)

Abstract Objective The primary aim of this study was to compare the impact of risperidone long-acting injectable (R-LAI) to other antipsychotics on rates of hospitalisation in real-life settings. Method The Cohort for the General study of Schizophrenia (CGS) followed 1859 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia (DSM-IV) from 177 psychiatric wards of public and private hospitals across France over a mean period of 12 months. These patients were ambulatory or had been hospitalised for less than 93 days at study entry. Recruitment was stratified for long-acting second-generation antipsychotic use. A multivariate Poisson regression adjusted for confounding with propensity scores and allowing for autocorrelation was used for the calculation of relative rates of hospitalisation with 95% confidence intervals. Results The mean age of participants was 37.65 years, 68.3% were male and 36.7% were hospitalised for less than 93 days at study entry. Altogether, participants accumulated 796 hospital stays (53.4 per 100 person-years). R-LAI patients were slightly younger and had been hospitalised more often in the past 12 months compared to non-R-LAI users. The adjusted Poisson regression analysis showed R-LAI use to be associated with a lower rate of future hospitalisation: 0.66 [0.46–0.96] compared to non-R-LAI use, and 0.53 [0.32–0.88] compared to use of other LAIs. Conclusion Use of R-LAI was associated with lower rates of hospitalisation compared to non-use of R-LAI.