Social Psychiatry, Vol. 52 No. 2, 2024.
Professional paper
https://doi.org/10.24869/spsih.2024.164
The Impact of Long-Acting Antipsychotics on the Hospitalization of Patients with Schizophrenia in the Republic of Croatia
Morena Benčić
orcid.org/0009-0007-7537-2377
; University of Zagreb School of Medicine, Zagreb, Croatia
Miroslav Herceg
orcid.org/0000-0002-9008-9146
; University of Zagreb School of Medicine, Zagreb, Croatia; University Psychiatric Hospital Vrapče, Zagreb, Croatia;
Pero Draganić
; University of Rijeka Faculty of Biotechnology and Drug Development, Rijeka, Croatia; HALMED, Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Schizophrenia is an illness with a high risk of relapse, which is even higher if the affected person does not take antipsychotic
therapy. Low adherence to therapy represents a major problem in the treatment of schizophrenia, however the use of
long-acting antipsychotics has been shown to increase adherence. The aim of this paper was to determine whether
there is a connection between the use of long-acting antipsychotics and hospitalizations of individuals suffering from
schizophrenia in the Republic of Croatia. Data on the use of long-acting antipsychotics and the hospitalization of patients
with schizophrenia were collected over the four-year period from 2018 to 2021. Statistical analysis was performed using the
Pearson correlation test. It is evident from the results that the number of hospitalizations due to schizophrenia decreased
year after year, while the use of all atypical antipsychotics with long-acting formulation increased. The results indicate a
strong negative correlation between the variables: the number of hospitalized patients, the number of hospitalizations,
the duration of hospital care and the use of long-acting antipsychotics, but the correlation is not statistically relevant
for any variable. We can conclude that an increase in the administration of long-acting antipsychotics in patients with
schizophrenia in the Republic of Croatia could result in a decrease in the number of patients hospitalized, the number of
hospitalizations and their duration. The recommendation is, therefore, to start administering the long-acting atypical
antipsychotics in patients with schizophrenia at the earliest possible stage of the illness and/or as early as the first episode.
Keywords
Schizophrenia; Hospitalization; Long-acting Antipsychotics; Atypical Antipsychotics
Hrčak ID:
320434
URI
Publication date:
28.8.2024.
Visits: 239 *