[Antipsychotics in clinical practice. Treatment of the first schizophrenic episode].

AIM

The aim was to obtain the information regarding the choice of antipsychotic drugs in the treatment of first episode schizophrenia. In particular, the factors influencing doctors' preferences and their opinion about several antipsychotics and the availability of these drugs were evaluated.

METHODS

The anonymous questionnaire was presented to 100 psychiatrists; 50 of them were in hospital and 50 were in the out-patient practice. The questionnaire consisted of 17 questions regarding the pharmacological treatment of the first schizophrenic episode.

RESULTS

The most frequently prescribed drug was olanzapine (33%), then risperidone (26%), and perazine (25%). In hospitals, risperidone was more frequently administered than perazine (29% and 24% respectively) while in out-patient clinics perazine slightly outnumbered risperidone (25% vs 23%). Fluoxetine was prescribed to 18% of out-patients, but not to hospitalized ones. Doctors performed treatment verification mainly (in 39% of patients) after 4 weeks of therapy. The change of antipsychotics was made more frequently in 28% of those hospitalized than the out-patients (16%) and mainly due to the lack of efficacy. More psychiatrists considered the most important attribute of the drug to be the efficacy toward the negative symptoms (77%) than the positive symptoms (59% of doctors).

CONCLUSIONS

Prescription practice of psychiatrists shows the popularity of olanzapine and risperidone in the treatment of the first psychotic episode, but also indicates the strong position of perazine, which results from the current administrative regulations. Three times more psychiatrists think that patients should have an unrestricted (by the law) access to olanzapine or risperidone than to perazine. The most important attribute of an antipsychotic in the first episode schizophrenia turned out to be its efficacy toward the negative symptoms. Psychiatrists admitted that they chose an antipsychotic much more frequently on the basis of their own knowledge than on the basis of experts' opinion or the administrative regulations.