title: Socio-demographic, clinical and treatment characteristics of relapsing schizophrenic patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To define the clinical profile of relapsing patients with schizophrenia attended in daily practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder admitted to short-stay/acute-care psychiatric units were eligible provided that data for the previous 3 years and for the next 12 months after discharge were collected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Remarking features in 1646 patients (68% men) included low family support (34%), primary education (48%), schizophrenia as the main diagnosis (77%), duration of illness > 10 years (60%), mean number of previous hospitalizations of 2.74, non-adherence as the main reason of hospitalization (58.6%), treatment with a mean of two different antipsychotics and differences in adherence according to antipsychotic medication (P < 0.0001) (highest rates for depot atypical antipsychotics). The relapse rate was 38.6%. There were no differences in the number of relapsing patients according to antipsychotic drugs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The profile of relapsing schizophrenic patients may be defined as a male subject, aged 30-45 years, with primary education level, more than 10 years of disease' duration, low family support, moderately and severely ill, treated with multiple antipsychotic drugs, and poor to moderate adherence. Differences in relapse according to antipsychotic types were not observed but long-acting second generation antipsychotic drugs showed the highest percentage of maximum adherence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, CIBERSAM, Passeig Sant Joan de Déu 2, Esplugues del Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: San
authors.forename: Miquel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bernardo
authors.forename: Agustín
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gómez
authors.forename: Pedro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Martínez
authors.forename: Beatriz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: González
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Peña
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003710:Demography; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy; D012008:Recurrence; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents