Prescription Patterns of Olanzapine among Manic Inpatients with Bipolar Disorder / 대한정신약물학회지

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate current trends in the prescription patterns of olanzapine in patients with bipolar disorder and to examine the relationship between the prescription patterns and the clinical outcome. METHODS: We investigated the prescription patterns of olanzapine in bipolar patients who were discharged between March 1, 2001 and October 31, 2003 by retrospective review of medical records. Prescription patterns included maximum dose, average dose, duration of olanzapine treatment, and so on. Treatment outcome was measured by using Clinical Global Impression-improvement scale (CGI-I) at discharge. RESULTS: The use of antipsychotics was found to be increasing and olanzapine accounted for about 30% of antipsychotics prescribed in the treatment of bipolar disorder. Average and maximum dose of olanzapine in 2003 were increased compared with those in 2001 or 2002. Higher average and maximum dose of olanzapine treatment resulted in better global outcome. CONCLUSION: These findings confirm the important role of antipsychotics, particularly olanzapine in the current treatment of bipolar disorder and also support the recent recommendation of high dose of olanzapine in the treatments of acute manic symptoms.