Risperidone long-acting injection: factors associated with changes in bed stay and hospitalisation in a 3-year naturalistic follow-up.

We examined factors associated with hospital admissions and bed stay for 211 patients prescribed risperidone long-acting injection (RLAI) in clinical practice. Hospital bed days increased by a median of 74 days in the 3 years after RLAI initiation compared with the 3 years before initiation (P < 0.0001). Only subjects starting RLAI as outpatients showed no increase in bed days after RLAI initiation. A greater than expected number of bed days was observed in women (36% increase), patients prescribed >25 mg/2 weeks (70% increase) and patients previously treated with clozapine (118% increase). Overall, number of hospital admissions did not increase, although those previously prescribed clozapine saw a 31% increase in admissions compared with patients not previously exposed to clozapine. This and other analyses of the same patient cohort indicate that RLAI produces most favourable outcomes in outpatients and those not previously treated with clozapine.