Rehospitalization rates of patients with schizophrenia discharged on haloperidol, risperidone or clozapine

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:The purpose of this study was to evaluate the rehospitalization rates of patients discharged from the Institute of Psychiatry of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Universidade de São Paulo Medical School while being treated with haloperidol, risperidone or clozapine. METHOD: This is a naturalistic study designed to monitor rehospitalization rates for patients discharged on haloperidol (n = 43), risperidone (n = 22) or clozapine (n = 31). Time to readmission over the course of three years was measured by the product-limit (Kaplan-Meier) method. Risk factors associated with rehospitalizations were examined. RESULTS: At 36 months, remained in the community 74% of the haloperidol-treated patients, 59% of the risperidone-treated patients and 84% of the clozapine-treated patients. The haloperidol group showed a higher proportion of women, a late age of onset and shorter length of illness than the other groups, whereas the opposite was observed in the clozapine group. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that the rehospitalization rates of patients taking clozapine are lower than the rate for patients treated with haloperidol and risperidone. However confounding variables such as gender distribution and age of onset represent limitations that should be taken into account for the interpretation of the results.