Patterns of drug treatment of schizophrenic patients in Estonia, Spain and Sweden

Abstract

1. Patterns of drug treatment and the use of polypharmacy in schizophrenic in-patients were compared and evaluated in the University Teaching Hospitals of Psychiatry in Badajoz, Spain, Huddinge, Sweden, and Tartu, Estonia. 2. The medical records of up to 100 consecutively admitted patients were retrospectively reviewed using a standardized data form. 3. The male patients were significantly younger than females in all study locations, but there were no age differences between the locations. The length of stay was equal for the two series in the same hospital, but considerably longer in Tartu than in Badajoz and Huddinge. 4. The neuroleptic drugs used most commonly in Badajoz and Tartu were similar in prescription frequency and in the doses prescribed, but different from those used in Huddinge. Haloperidol was the most frequently prescribed neuroleptic in Badajoz and Tartu, accounting for one third of all neuroleptic prescriptions. In Huddinge the choice of neuroleptics was more evenly spread over several compounds. Intramuscular injections other than depot preparations were commonly used in Tartu and Badajoz, but not in Huddinge. 5. At least two neuroleptics were prescribed simultaneously on 73% of treatment days in Badajoz and 46% in both Huddinge and Tartu. The average cumulative daily doses of concomitant multiple neuroleptic treatment, expressed in chlorpromazine equivalents, were lower in Huddinge than in the other study locations and higher for male patients in Badajoz and Tartu. 6. Anticholinergics were used together with neuroleptics in 42% of treatment days in Badajoz and 30% in Huddinge as compared with 75% in Tartu. The use of anticholinergics increased in parallel to the increase in the number and the cumulative dose of concomitant neuroleptics in all study locations. 7. About 15% of patients in Badajoz and Tartu, but only 1% in Huddinge, received concomitant treatment with antidepressant drugs. The simultaneous use of antidepressants and benzodiazepines was inversely related to the number and the cumulative dose of neuroleptics in Badajoz and Tartu. In contrast, the cumulative dose and number of neuroleptics were greater, when additional benzodiazepines were prescribed in Huddinge. 8. The study in schizophrenic in-patients revealed that polypharmacy with concomitant multiple neuroleptics, additional anticholinergics and other psychotropics is an international phenomenon.