Prescribing practice of risperidone long-acting injection

Abstract

Background:Risperidone the first atypical antipsychotic available in a long-acting injection formulation. In the United Kingdom is licensed to use in psychosis in patients tolerant of oral Risperidone and the Summary of Product Characteristics clearly defines the methods of initiation and titration.Methods:We performed a naturalistic observation of 25 patients belonging to 3 different community mental health teams and one in-patient facility that have been prescribed Risperidone long-acting injection (RLAI) and collected data about immediate prior use of antipsychotic medication, patient preference, compliance with treatment, documentation of effectiveness and tolerance of Risperidone oral, supplementation with Risperidone oral during the first three weeks, initial dose, intervals between dose changes, monitoring of benefits and side-effects, and reasons for discontinuation.Results:Only 7/25 patients have been prescribed oral Risperidone prior to the injectable formulation and none had received clozapine. 13/25 received oral supplementation during initiation, 3/25 dose was changed in less than 4 weeks intervals. 14/25 non-compliance was suspected and only 2/25 patients stated a preference for an injectable formulation. 17/25 continued to receive RLAI and those discontinued in 3/25 due to patient refusal, 1/25 not tolerated, 1/25 patient did not attend treatment, 1/25 not effective, 1/25 patient deceased, 1/25 no reason was specified.Conclusions:prescribing of RLAI did not follow the recommendation from the manufacturers mainly during initiation. Non-compliance with previous medication was the main reason for use of an injectable formulation but use of RLAI seems to be associated with low discontinuation rates.