Attitudes of Korean Psychiatrists Toward Treatment Long-acting Injectable Antipsychotic / 신경정신의학

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Long acting injectable antipsychotic medication have the ability to sustain the drug effect for a long duration, thus enabling advances in the management of those psychiatric patients who have poor compliance or who have difficulty getting the oral form of their antipsychotic medications. Despite their benefits, previous studies have reported that depot antipsychotics have a much lower prescription ratein the treatment of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Psychiatrist's attitude toward depot antipsychotics clearly has an influence on the decision-making process regarding the selection of medications. Until now, there has been no data with respect to psychiatrists' attitudes regarding long-acting injectable antipsychotics in Korea. This study examined these attitudes toward antipsychotic depot medications as well as the factors which could contribute to their choice of depots. METHODS: We questioned 347 psychiatrists, who had been attending a conference, about their attitudes toward depot antipsychotic treatment. RESULTS: The most important factor causing reluctance with respect to prescribing depot treatment (for both classes of antipsychotics) was a presumed sufficient level of compliance with available oral antipsychotic treatments. In addition, typical depots are not considered to be an appropriate treatment option for first-episode patients, and as a result, they are used sparingly. Lastly, atypical longacting injectable drugs are avoided due to their strict criteria of insurance and high treatment costs. CONCLUSION: Aversions to prescribe depot treatment are frequent among psychiatrists and appear to be unrelated to the antipsychotic class. The stated reasons for not choosing depots are generally not supported by the current literature. Further research is required to clarify the advantages using depot treatments.