Improvement of functioning in patients with schizophrenia: real-world effectiveness of aripiprazole once-monthly (REACT study)

Abstract

BackgroundFunctional impairment affects many patients with schizophrenia. Treatment with the long-acting injectable antipsychotic aripiprazole once-monthly (AOM) may help improve functioning.ObjectivesTo explore changes in functioning in patients with schizophrenia who received AOM treatment in observational studies.MethodsHere we report functional outcomes in the form of Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores in a pooled analysis of data from two observational studies from Canada (NCT02131415) and Germany (vfa non-interventional studies registry 15960N). Data from 396 patients were analyzed.ResultsAt baseline, the mean GAF score was 47.7 (SD 13.4). During 6 months of treatment with AOM, the mean GAF score increased to 59.4 (SD 15.8). Subgroups stratified by patient age (≤35 years/>35 years), sex, disease duration (≤5 years/>5 years) and disease severity at baseline had all significantly improved their GAF at month 6. 51.5% of the patients showed a GAF score increase of at least 10 points, which was regarded as clinically meaningful, and were considered responders.ConclusionsThese data show that treatment with AOM may help improve patient functioning in a routine treatment setting.Trial registrationNCT02131415 (May 6, 2014), vfa non-interventional studies registry 15960N.