Evaluation of non-psychiatric and antipsychotic medication use in long-term inpatient psychiatric facility

Purpose: Patients on antipsychotic medications typically experience many adverse drug reactions such as extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS), akathisia, and weight gain.  Our purpose is to investigate whether second-generation antipsychotics require more management of ADRs with additional pharmacotherapy and to compare the total number of medications in a patient's regimen versus patients who are on first-generation antipsychotics. Second-generation antipsychotics are associated with the onset of co-morbid conditions such as diabetes mellitus whereas first-generation antipsychotics are mostly limited to EPS as an adverse event.

Methods: De-identified patient profiles containing diagnostic and medication records will be obtained from the South Florida State Hospital in Pembroke Pines, FL. Patients, ages 18-70, who have been placed on antipsychotic medications for at least one year will be evaluated. Three groups will be studied: patients exclusively on first-generation antipsychotics, patients exclusively on second-generation antipsychotics, and patients on both first-generation and second-generation antipsychotics.  The total number of medications from each patient profile will be counted and t-test and chi-square analyses will be performed.

Results: Our results are a work in progress.

Conclusion: Our prediction is that patients who are on second-generation antipsychotics will require more medication for management of adverse drug events. The results of this study can help inform clinical decision-making regarding care of patients on antipsychotics in long-term inpatient psychiatric facilities.