Introduction: Antipsychotics are the mainstay of treatment in schizophrenia. First-generation and second-generation antipsychotics are available as oral and depot formulations. The aim of this study was to compare the relapse rate in patients with schizophrenia treated with depot and oral antipsychotics.
Methods: All patients diagnosed with schizophrenia under the Top End Mental Health Service in Darwin, Australia during a period of five years were included. Their medications and history of relapses were retrieved from electronic records. Mean relapses-per-month was calculated and compared using the independent t-test and ANOVA.
Results and discussion: The study sample contained 193 patients; 137 were males. The mean relapses-per-month for oral formulations was significantly higher than for depot formulations. Second-generation antipsychotic depot formulations had significantly reduced mean relapses-per-month compared to oral second-generation formulations. The mean relapses-per-month for first-generation antipsychotics depot was not significantly different from first-generation depot formulations. First-generation antipsychotics depot formulations were significantly more effective than oral second-generation. Zuclopenthixol appeared to be the best first-generation antipsychotics depot compared to flupenazine and flupenthixol. First-generation antipsychotics depot formulations were equally effective as Second-generation antipsychotics depot formulations.
Conclusion: Depot formulations overcome some of the adherence problems with oral therapy, and the resultant continuous therapy is effective in reducing relapse rates.
