Pharmaco-epidemiology in 136 hospitalized schizophrenic patients.

The authors surveyed pharmacotherapy in a group of 136 newly admitted patients with a DSM-III diagnosis of schizophrenia. They found that nine antipsychotic agents were used; the median daily dose (in chlorpromazine equivalents) was 1088 mg (mean +/- SD = 1428 +/- 1260 mg; range = 75-6186 mg). Women received greater mean daily doses of antipsychotics than men (1688 versus 1284 mg). Using a Cox model survival analysis, the authors found no statistical association between length of stay and the mean daily dose of antipsychotic medication. The mean daily dose of high-potency agents was 2.7 times greater than the dose of low-potency agents. The excess exposure to haloperidol alone resulted in 16.3% of the overall neuroactive drug costs.