Antipsychotic Treatment and Mortality in Schizophrenia

Results: Compared with age- and gender-matched controls from the general population (N = 214920), the highest overall mortality was observed among patients with no antipsychotic exposure (hazard ratio [HR] = 6.3, 95% CI: 5.5–7.3), ie, 0.0 defined daily dose (DDD)/day, followed by high exposure (>1.5 DDD/day) group (HR = 5.7, 5.2–6.2), low exposure (<0.5 DDD/day) group (HR = 4.1, 3.6–4.6), and moderate exposure (0.5–1.5 DDD/day) group (HR = 4.0, 3.7–4.4). High exposure (HR = 8.5, 7.3–9.8) and no exposure (HR = 7.6, 5.8–9.9) were associated with higher cardiovascular mortality than either low exposure (HR = 4.7, 3.7–6.0) or moderate exposure (HR = 5.6, 4.8–6.6). The highest excess overall mortality was observed among first-episode patients with no antipsychotic use (HR = 9.9, 5.9–16.6). Conclusions: Among patients with schizophrenia, the cumulative antipsychotic exposure displays a U-shaped curve for overall mortality, revealing the highest risk of death among those patients with no antipsychotic use. These results indicate that both excess overall and cardiovascular mortality in schizophrenia is attributable to other factors than antipsychotic treatment when used in adequate dosages.

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Thats pretty cool, I guess taking meds isnt all side effects and early death.

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Thank you for sharing! This is good news!