Bibliographic Details
Title: |
Antipsychotic Polypharmacy and High-Dose Antipsychotic Regimens in the Residential Italian Forensic Psychiatric Population (REMS) |
Authors: |
Gabriele Mandarelli, Felice Carabellese, Guido Di Sciascio, Roberto Catanesi |
Source: |
Frontiers in Psychology, Vol 13 (2022) |
Publisher Information: |
Frontiers Media S.A., 2022. |
Publication Year: |
2022 |
Collection: |
LCC:Psychology |
Subject Terms: |
REMS, antipsychotic polypharmacy (APP), high-dose antipsychotics, schizophrenia spectrum disorders, personality disorders, forensic psychiatric treatment, Psychology, BF1-990 |
More Details: |
Few data exist regarding treatment with antipsychotics in forensic psychiatric patient populations with high social dangerousness. We performed a secondary analysis of 681 patients treated with at least one antipsychotic, extracted from a 1-year observational retrospective study, conducted on 730 patients treated in the Italian Residencies for Execution of Security Measures (REMS) (96.4% of the REMS population). We aimed at investigating antipsychotic polypharmacy (prescription of two or more concomitant antipsychotics) and high dose/very high-dose antipsychotics, as well as the possible factors associated with such therapeutic regimens. High dose/very high-dose antipsychotics were defined as a prescribed daily dose to WHO-defined daily dose ratio greater than 1.5 or 3.0, respectively. Binary logistic regression analysis was used in three models to test possible predictors of antipsychotic polypharmacy, high-dose antipsychotics, and very high-dose antipsychotic prescription. Antipsychotic polypharmacy resulted in n = 308 (45.2%) of the patients, n = 346 (50.8%) received high-dose antipsychotics, and n = 96 (14.1%) very high-dose antipsychotics. The multivariate analysis disclosed an association between antipsychotic polypharmacy and male gender (odds ratio (OR): 2.75 and 95% CI: 1.34–5.65), long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotic prescription (OR: 2.62 and 95% CI: 1.84–3.74), and aggressive behavior in REMS (OR: 1.63 and 95% CI: 1.13–2.36). High-dose antipsychotics were also associated with male gender (OR: 2.01 and 95% CI: 1.02–3.95), LAI antipsychotic prescription (OR: 2.78 and 95% CI: 1.95–3.97), and aggressive behavior in REMS (OR: 1.63 and 95% CI: 1.12–2.36). The use of antipsychotic polypharmacy and high-dose antipsychotics is frequent in the REMS population. These results might depend on regulatory and organizational aspects of the REMS system, including variability in structures, lack of a common model of care, and lack of stratified therapeutic security. |
Document Type: |
article |
File Description: |
electronic resource |
Language: |
English |
ISSN: |
1664-1078 |
Relation: |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.722985/full; https://doaj.org/toc/1664-1078 |
DOI: |
10.3389/fpsyg.2022.722985 |
Access URL: |
https://doaj.org/article/bca3e1c4a5a44511be2a47c7f36e0a9e |
Accession Number: |
edsdoj.bca3e1c4a5a44511be2a47c7f36e0a9e |
Database: |
Directory of Open Access Journals |