Antipsychotic polypharmacy at the clinic of psychiatry, clinical centre of Serbia

Abstract

Introduction

Antipsychotic polypharmacy is not supported by current guidelines. However, it is often present in practice. A common reason for this is to gain a greater, faster therapeutic response and reduce the doses of individual drugs, thus reducing the adverse effects.

Aims and Objectives

The aim of this study is to analyze the prevalence of antipsychotic polypharmacy at the Clinic of Psychiatry, Clinical Centre of Serbia and to compare it with the data from 10 years ago when similar research was conducted.

Material and methods

This is a cross-sectional study conducted in 2015. The data were obtained from the patients’ charts and compared with the results of a more extensive study conducted at the same hospital during 2002–2005 period. Statistics was performed using standard statistical methods.

Results

Of the total number of patients (n = 44), 81.8% (n = 36) were on antipsychotic monotherapy, while in the previous study, which included 198 patients, monotherapy was noted in just 32.3% hospitalizations (n = 64) (Chi = 34.5; P < 0.001). Among patients treated with polypharmacy, the majority was prescribed the combination of a first- and second-generation antipsychotic (n = 7, 87.5%), while just one patient was treated with two first-generation antispychotics (n = 1, 12.5%). In the 2002–2005 period, the combination of two first-generation antipsychotics was dominant (58.9%, n = 79).

Conclusion

This study indicates that in Serbian psychiatry there is a strong tendency towards reduction of antipsychotic polypharmacy. However, this is a single-centre study with a relatively small number of participants and more extensive research on the national level is warranted to confirm this trend.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.