Worldwide-Schizophrenia Outpatient Health Outcomes (W-SOHO): baseline characteristics of pan-regional observational data from more than 17,000 patients.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the Worldwide-Schizophrenia Outpatient Health Outcomes (W-SOHO) patient population at study entry, focusing on illness burden and prescribing practices across regions.


METHODS
The SOHO study was a 3-year, prospective, observational study designed to assess costs and outcomes associated with antipsychotic use in outpatients initiating or changing antipsychotic (with an emphasis on olanzapine compared with other antipsychotics). SOHO was conducted in 10 European countries and 27 other countries as Intercontinental SOHO (IC-SOHO). Data from all countries have been pooled to produce the W-SOHO dataset.


METHODS
Clinical Global Impression-Schizophrenia (CGI-SCH) severity scores, psychotropic medication use, adverse events, social interaction, housing and employment status, self-perceived health state (EuroQoL EQ-5D scale and Visual Analogue Scale, EQ-VAS), and reasons for initiation/change of antipsychotic.


RESULTS
The W-SOHO database comprises 17,384 patients from six regions; East Asia (n = 1223), Central and Eastern Europe (n = 2175), Northern Europe (n = 4291), Southern Europe (n = 5788), Latin America (n = 2566), North Africa and the Middle East (n = 1341). Overall, patients were 38 +/- 13 years old (mean +/- SD), moderately ill (mean CGI-SCH overall score of 4.4 +/- 1.0) with a median duration of illness of 7 years (interquartile range 1-16 years); 43% were female, 10% were receiving antipsychotic medication for the first time. Adverse events were prevalent across all regions; on average, 50% (range 41-59%) of patients taking antipsychotics exhibited extrapyramidal symptoms at baseline, and 62% (34-67%) of patients reported sexual dysfunction in the previous month. On average, only 19% (16-23%) of patients were in paid employment and as many as 69% were living in dependent housing.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite inherent diversity in these patients and the health care systems supporting them, there are striking cross-regional similarities in baseline characteristics for most measures. Not all countries are represented; regional comparisons may not be valid outside of the countries studied.
Karagianis
J
J
Clinical Research, Eli Lilly Canada Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada M1N 2E8. karagianis_jamie@lilly.com
Novick
D
D
Pecenak
J
J
Haro
J M
JM
Dossenbach
M
M
Treuer
T
T
Montgomery
W
W
Walton
R
R
Lowry
A J
AJ
D000328:Adult; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000191:economics; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000191:economics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012423:Rural Health; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000191:economics; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014504:Urban Health
D014150:Antipsychotic Agents