REDUCTION OF HEALTH-CARE RESOURCE UTILIZATION AND COSTS FOLLOWING THEUSE OF RISPERIDONE FOR PATIENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA PREVIOUSLY TREATEDWITH STANDARD ANTIPSYCHOTIC THERAPY - A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS USING THE SASKATCHEWAN HEALTH LINKABLE DATABASES

The objective of this study was to assess the change in healthcare res ource utilisation and costs related to the initiation of risperidone t herapy in patients with chronic schizophrenia. The study design used a retrospective cohort and linked data from 5 databases (patient, presc ription drug, hospital, physician and mental health services) within t he province of Saskatchewan. Study participants included all those pat ients who were registered in the Saskatchewan Health Linkable Data Fil es and received at least 1 prescription for risperidone between 1 July 1993 and 31 December 1993. In order to receive risperidone in Saskatc hewan, patients needed to have failed or become intolerant to previous antipsychotic therapy. Utilisation information from the databases was collected for equivalent periods, in this case an average of 10 month s, before and after initiation of risperidone. Results were as follows : hospital admissions decreased by 60.3%, length of hospital stay decr eased by 58.2%, and physician visits decreased by 22.3%, after initiat ion of risperidone. There was also a slight reduction in visits to men tal health services. The cost of antipsychotic medication increased du ring risperidone treatment; however, when all costs were added up, the re was an estimated annual cost saving of $Can7925/patient/year after initiation of risperidone. Such results need to be interpreted in the light of possible mitigating effects operative in longitudinal studies of schizophrenia.