The British Journal of Psychiatry (2009) 195: S37-S42. doi: 10.1192/bjp.195.52.s37
© 2009 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
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Antipsychotic long-acting injections: prescribing practice in the UK

Thomas R. E. Barnes, MD, FRCPsych, DSc

Department of Psychological Medicine, Imperial College London

Amber Shingleton-Smith, MA

Royal College of Psychiatrists' Centre for Quality Improvement, London

Carol Paton, BSc, DipClinPharm, MRPharmS, MCMHP

Division of Psychological Medicine, Imperial College, London, UK

Correspondence: Carol Paton, Division of Psychological Medicine, Imperial College, Charing Cross Campus, Reynold's Building, St Dunstan's Road, London W6 8RP, UK. Email: Carol.Paton{at}oxleas.nhs.uk

Declaration of interest

Over the past 3 years T.B. has acted as consultant to Servier, Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb, and C.P. has acted as a consultant to Eli Lilly.

Background

Data from the USA, Australia and Europe suggest that the proportion of patients with schizophrenia prescribed an antipsychotic long-acting injection (LAI) varies from around a quarter to a third. Use of LAIs has been associated with male gender and younger age.

Aims

To characterise the use of LAIs in people with schizophrenia in three clinical settings in the UK.

Method

The study used audit data from quality improvement programmes conducted by the Prescribing Observatory for Mental Health.

Results

Long-acting injections were found to be prescribed for between a quarter and a third of patients, depending on the clinical setting. Flupentixol, risperidone and zuclopenthixol were most commonly prescribed and were combined with an oral antipsychotic in half of cases, frequently constituting high-dose prescribing. The use of LAIs was not consistently associated with age, gender or ethnicity.

Conclusions

Antipsychotic LAIs are commonly prescribed. We did not replicate previous findings with respect to demographic variables associated with their use.