Abstract
To the Editor. —Direct treatment costs of schizophrenia in the United States total more than $10 billion per year. 1 Approximately 50% of patients with chronic schizophrenia receiving outpatient treatment relapse within 1 year after discharge as a result of medication noncompliance. 2 As a result, medication noncompliance accounts for approximately 33% of the cost of relapse and rehospitalization of patients with chronic schizophrenia. 2 Long-acting depot neuroleptics have been shown to enhance medication compliance and thereby reduce the risk of relapse and, consequently, hospital days. 3 In the United Kingdom, 50% of patients with schizophrenia receive treatment with long-acting, injectable depot neuroleptic therapy, while in this country only 10% to 20% receive depot therapy. 4 If US psychiatrists began to use depot neuroleptics as widely as their European colleagues, millions of dollars in relapse- and rehospitalization-related costs could be saved each year. 2 Another reason that depot neuroleptics are
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