title: Risperidone long-acting injection in the treatment of schizophrenia: 24-month results from the electronic Schizophrenia Treatment Adherence Registry in Canada.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess outcomes over 24 months in Canadian patients with schizophrenia initiated on risperidone long-acting injection (RLAI) and participating in the electronic Schizophrenia Treatment Adherence Registry (e-STAR).
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were enrolled from 24 sites after an independent decision to initiate RLAI. Subsequent patient management was based on usual clinical practice at each site and was not protocol-driven. Relevant data were collected retrospectively by chart review for 12 months prior to RLAI and prospectively for 24 months following RLAI initiation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients (n=188) had a mean age of 39.2 years, were 66.3% male, and 27.7% were inpatients at baseline. Twenty-four months after initiating therapy (initial dose =28.7 mg), 34.1% (95% confidence interval 27.2%-42.2%) of patients had discontinued RLAI with a mean time to discontinuation of 273.4±196 days. Over the treatment period, there were significant (P<0.001) changes from baseline in Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S; 3.48 versus [vs] 4.31 at baseline), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF; 56.1 vs 48.1), and Personal and Social Performance (PSP; 59.1 vs 46.9) scale scores. In addition, after 12 months, there were significant (P<0.001) decreases in the percentage of patients hospitalized (23.9% vs 58.5% pre-RLAI), mean length of stay (11.4 vs 30.4 days), and number of hospitalizations (0.32 vs 0.87) compared to the 12-month pre-RLAI period. Reductions in hospitalization continued into the second 12 months of therapy, when only 9% of patients were hospitalized and mean length of stay was 2.0 days.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In a routine clinical practice setting, patients switched to RLAI showed significant improvements in clinical outcomes and in global and social functioning, and hospitalization was significantly reduced. The data confirm that RLAI provides effective long-term management of schizophrenia in Canada.
authors.affiliation: Vancouver Island Health Authority, Victoria, BC, Canada.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.affiliation: Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, Chatham, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Ranjith
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Chandrasena
authors.affiliation: Allan Memorial Institute, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Beauclair
authors.affiliation: Janssen Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Doanh
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Luong
authors.affiliation: Janssen Inc., Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lam
keywords: Canada; e-STAR; risperidone long-acting injection; schizophrenia