A naturalistic study of risperidone treatment in seven affiliated university hospitals in Korea

This retrospective naturalistic study, conducted on patients with schizophrenia, was undertaken to examine the differences in the clinical characteristics of subjects who were treated with risperidone, but who were discontinued soon after administration, and those who were maintained on the drug for a long-term period. Data on 210 of 580 inpatients with schizophrenia who were treated with risperidone and whose complete medical records were available, were analyzed. Patients maintained on risperidone for at least 2 years were assigned to a 'long-term maintenance' (LTM) group and those who were discontinued within 6 months of risperidone administration were assigned to an 'early drop-out' (ED) group. The parameters used for comparisons included the patients' demographic characteristics, the presence/absence of physical or psychiatric comorbidities, the severity of the psychopathology, the typology of the schizophrenia, the nature and subjects' responses to previous antipsychotic treatments (if any) and dosages of risperidone treatment. Of the 210 subjects, 67 (31.9%) belonged to the ED group, whereas 143 (68.1%) were maintained on risperidone at 2 years. There were no significant differences in the demographics, nor in the severity of the psychopathology, nor were there significant differences in the starting or maximal dosages of risperidone administered between the two groups. Exposure to any previous antipsychotic and the longest maintained final dosage of risperidone were significantly different in the two groups. We believed that a multicenter-based retrospective naturalistic study would provide useful information about the efficacy and other practical aspects of antipsychotic administration.