Adherence to Atypical Antipsychotic Long-acting Injectables Among Patients with Schizophrenia Enrolled in a Patient Information Program

This poster was presented at the 29th Annual U.S. Psychiatric & Mental Health Congress, held October 21-24, 2016, in San Antonio, Texas.

Introduction: Medication nonadherence is common among patients with schizophrenia, and more pronounced in certain subgroups including patients with copayment burden, males, and younger patients. The goal of this study was to assess one-year medication adherence among patients enrolled in a patient information program and to evaluate if disparities in adherence persist among subgroups of enrolled patients.

Methods: Using data from a patient information program with over 30,000 enrolled patients, we analyzed adult patients (≥ 20 years) from the initiation of the program (2010) to 2015 Q3 who received at least two injections of paliperidone palmitate long-acting injectable (LAI) through the program. Dispensings of LAI outside of the program could not be assessed and were not included in the analysis. We evaluated one-year post-enrollment adherence using the medication possession ratio (MPR),  and the median (IQR) number of injections received overall and among subgroups of patients (i.e., by age, gender, region, payer, referring facility, referral year).

Results: A total of 1,710 patients were identified. The median one-year MPR for all patients was 0.93 (IQR) and 81% of patients were adherent (MPR > 0.8). Overall, the median number of injections was 9 (IQR). Results were consistent across different subgroups of patients.

Conclusion: Across more than 4 years of program experience, 81% of patients who received their injections from the program were observed to be adherent. Comparable adherence rates were observed across different subgroups including those groups that typically have challenges in adhering to their medications.