Olanzapine - A pharmacoeconomic review of its use in schizophrenia

Sources: Medical literature published in any language since 1966 on olanzap ine, identified using AdisBase (a proprietary database of Adis Internationa l, Auckland, New Zealand) and Medline. Additional references were identifie d from the reference lists of published articles. Bibliographical informati on, including contributory unpublished data, was also requested from the co mpany developing the drug. Search strategy: AdisBase search terms were 'olanzapine' or 'schizophrenia' and ('health-economics' or 'pharmacoepidemiology' or 'prescribing' or 'hos pitalisation' or 'formularies' or 'drug-utilisation' or 'meta-analysis' or 'therapeutic-substitution' or 'epidemiology'), or 'olanzapine' and 'schizop hrenia', Medline search terms were 'olanzapine' or 'schizophrenia' and ('ec onomics' or 'health-policy' or 'quality-of-life' or 'models-statistical' or 'health-planning' or 'epidemiology' or 'guideline in pt' or 'practice-guid elines in pt'. Searches were last updated 26 April 1999, Selection: Economic and quality-of-life analyses in patients with schizophr enia or related psychotic disorders who received olanzapine. inclusion of s tudies was based mainly on the methods section of the trials. Relevant back ground data on epidemiology, cost of illness and therapeutic use of olanzap ine are also included.