Am J Psychiatry 1987; 144:778-782
Copyright © 1987 by American Psychiatric Association
Pharmaco-epidemiology in 136 hospitalized schizophrenic patients
JM Zito, TJ Craig, J Wanderling and C Siegel
The authors surveyed pharmacotherapy in a group of 136 newly admitted
patients with a DSM-III diagnosis of schizophrenia. They found that nine
antipsychotic agents were used; the median daily dose (in chlorpromazine
equivalents) was 1088 mg (mean +/- SD = 1428 +/- 1260 mg; range = 75-6186
mg). Women received greater mean daily doses of antipsychotics than men
(1688 versus 1284 mg). Using a Cox model survival analysis, the authors
found no statistical association between length of stay and the mean daily
dose of antipsychotic medication. The mean daily dose of high-potency
agents was 2.7 times greater than the dose of low-potency agents. The
excess exposure to haloperidol alone resulted in 16.3% of the overall
neuroactive drug costs.
