Fulltext

Polypharmacy and psychotropic drug loading in patients with schizophrenia in Asian countries: Fourth survey of Research on Asian Prescription Patterns on antipsychotics

Yang SY 1 , Chen LY 1 , Najoan E 2 , Kallivayalil RA 3 , Viboonma K 4 , Jamaluddin R 5 Show all authors , Javed A 6 , Hoa DTQ 7 , Iida H 8 , Sim K 9 , Swe T 10 , He YL 11 , Park Y 12 , Ahmed HU 13 , De Alwis A 14 , Chiu HF 15 , Sartorius N 16 , Tan CH 17 , Chong MY 18 , Shinfuku N 19 , Lin SK 1

Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Psychiatry, Taipei City Hospital and Psychiatric Center, Taipei, Taiwan
  • 2 Dr Mintohardjo Indonesian Navy Hospital, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • 3 Department of Psychiatry, Pushpagiri Institute of Medical Sciences, Thiruvalla, India
  • 4 Suanprung Psychiatric Hospital, Chian Mai, Thailand
  • 5 Department of Psychiatry & Mental Health, Hospital Tuanku Fauziah, Kangar, Malaysia
  • 6 Pakistan Psychiatric Research Centre, Fountain House, Lahore, Pakistan
  • 7 Thanh Hoa Provincial Psychiatric Hospital, Thanh Hoa, Vietnam
  • 8 Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Fukuoka University, Fukuoka, Japan
  • 9 Department of General Psychiatry, Institute of Mental Health, Buangkok Green Medical Park, Singapore
  • 10 Department of Mental Health, University of Medicine, Magway, Myanmar
  • 11 Department of Psychiatric Epidemiology, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai, China
  • 12 Department of Psychiatry, Hanyang University, Seoul, Korea
  • 13 Department of Child Adolescent and Family Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health, Dhaka, Bangladesh
  • 14 National Institute of Mental Health, Angoda, Sri Lanka
  • 15 Department of Psychiatry, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
  • 16 Association for the Improvement of Mental Health Programs, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 17 Department of Pharmacology, National University of Singapore, Singapore
  • 18 Department of General Psychiatry, Chiayi Chang Gung Memorial Hospital and School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Chiayi, Taiwan
  • 19 Department of Social Welfare, School of Human Sciences, Seinan Gakuin University, Fukuoka, Japan
Psychiatry Clin Neurosci, 2018 Aug;72(8):572-579.
PMID: 29761577 DOI: 10.1111/pcn.12676

Abstract

AIM: The aim of the present study was to survey the prevalence of antipsychotic polypharmacy and combined medication use across 15 Asian countries and areas in 2016.

METHODS: By using the results from the fourth survey of Research on Asian Prescription Patterns on antipsychotics, the rates of polypharmacy and combined medication use in each country were analyzed. Daily medications prescribed for the treatment of inpatients or outpatients with schizophrenia, including antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, anxiolytics, hypnotics, and antiparkinson agents, were collected. Fifteen countries from Asia participated in this study.

RESULTS: A total of 3744 patients' prescription forms were examined. The prescription patterns differed across these Asian countries, with the highest rate of polypharmacy noted in Vietnam (59.1%) and the lowest in Myanmar (22.0%). Furthermore, the combined use of other medications, expressed as highest and lowest rate, respectively, was as follows: mood stabilizers, China (35.0%) and Bangladesh (1.0%); antidepressants, South Korea (36.6%) and Bangladesh (0%); anxiolytics, Pakistan (55.7%) and Myanmar (8.5%); hypnotics, Japan (61.1%) and, equally, Myanmar (0%) and Sri Lanka (0%); and antiparkinson agents, Bangladesh (87.9%) and Vietnam (10.9%). The average psychotropic drug loading of all patients was 2.01 ± 1.64, with the highest and lowest loadings noted in Japan (4.13 ± 3.13) and Indonesia (1.16 ± 0.68), respectively.

CONCLUSION: Differences in psychiatrist training as well as the civil culture and health insurance system of each country may have contributed to the differences in these rates. The concept of drug loading can be applied to other medical fields.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

MeSH terms
Similar publications