The intercontinental schizophrenia outpatient health outcomes (ic-soho) study: baseline clinical and functional characteristics and antipsychotic use patterns in the central and eastern europe (cee) region.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the baseline findings of the Intercontinental Schizophrenia Outpatient Health Outcomes (IC-SOHO) study in the Central and Eastern European sub-region (CEE-SOHO).


METHODS
The IC-SOHO study is an ongoing prospective, three-year, non-interventional observational study of schizophrenia treatment, clinical characteristics and mental health services utilization in eight Central and Eastern European countries. The study population consists of non-hospitalized patients who had initiated treatment with or changed to a new antipsychotic.


RESULTS
The baseline findings of the IC-SOHO study (CEE-SOHO Subset) appear to reflect clinical practice in Russia, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania and Lithuania (N=2,247). Overall, the patients were moderately to markedly ill and either overweight or obese (61.1%) when they entered the study. Functionally, the majority of patients was not involved in a relationship, could not care for themselves and was unemployed. Substance and alcohol dependency/abuse was not a problem in this study population. At baseline, half of the patients were treated with the newer atypical antipsychotics; and anxiolytics/hypnotics were the most commonly prescribed concomitant medication. Sexual side effects were most frequently reported among the surveyed adverse events. Overall patient compliance/ adherence to medication was good.


CONCLUSIONS
The baseline IC-SOHO data highlighted various clinical and functional characteristics and antipsychotic use patterns in a group of outpatients with schizophrenia in a naturalistic setting. Once completed, the IC-SOHO study will add further to this knowledge base.
Korb
Frans A
FA
Clinical Research Physician Neuroscience, Eli Lilly Regional Operations, Vienna, Austria, korb_frans@lilly.com.
Trzebiatowska
Iwona
I
Janikova
Eva
E
Winkler-Skaza
Valentina
V
Ilies
Dan
D
Peciukaitiene
Dalia
D
Anders
Martin
M
Simon
Lajos
L
Smulevich
Antoly B
AB
Dossenbach
Martin
M