Dataset Information

Comparative Effectiveness of Antipsychotics for Risk of Attempted or Completed Suicide Among Persons With Schizophrenia.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

The objective of our study was to investigate the comparative effectiveness of antipsychotics for the risk of attempted or completed suicide among all patients with schizophrenia in Finland and Sweden.

Methods

Two nationwide register-based cohort studies were conducted, including all individuals with schizophrenia in Finland (n = 61 889) and Sweden (n=29 823). The main exposure was 10 most commonly used antipsychotic monotherapies; also, adjunctive pharmacotherapies were investigated. The main outcome measure was attempted or completed suicide, which was analyzed with within-individual models by comparing use and nonuse periods in the same individual to minimize selection bias. Sensitivity analyses included attempted suicide (hospitalization only) as an outcome.

Results

Compared with no use of antipsychotics, clozapine use was the only antipsychotic consistently associated with a decreased risk of suicidal outcomes. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs for attempted or completed suicide were 0.64 (0.49-0.84) in the Finnish cohort and 0.66 (0.43-0.99) in the Swedish cohort. No other antipsychotic was associated with a reduced risk of attempted and/or completed suicide. Benzodiazepines and Z-drugs were associated with an increased risk of attempted or completed suicide (HRs: 1.29-1.30 for benzodiazepines and 1.33-1.62 for Z-drugs).

Conclusion

Clozapine was the only antipsychotic associated with decreased risk of attempted or completed suicide among patients with schizophrenia, and it should be considered as first-line treatment for high-risk patients.

SUBMITTER: Taipale H

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7824993 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Comparative Effectiveness of Antipsychotics for Risk of Attempted or Completed Suicide Among Persons With Schizophrenia.

Taipale Heidi H Lähteenvuo Markku M Tanskanen Antti A Mittendorfer-Rutz Ellenor E Tiihonen Jari J

Schizophrenia bulletin 20210101 1

<h4>Objective</h4>The objective of our study was to investigate the comparative effectiveness of antipsychotics for the risk of attempted or completed suicide among all patients with schizophrenia in Finland and Sweden.<h4>Methods</h4>Two nationwide register-based cohort studies were conducted, including all individuals with schizophrenia in Finland (n = 61 889) and Sweden (n=29 823). The main exposure was 10 most commonly used antipsychotic monotherapies; also, adjunctive pharmacotherapies were ...[more]

PMID: 33428766

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Project description:ObjectiveThe propensity of people vulnerable to suicide to make poor life decisions is increasingly well documented. Do they display an extreme degree of decision biases? The present study used a behavioral-decision approach to examine the susceptibility of low-lethality and high-lethality suicide attempters to common decision biases that may ultimately obscure alternative solutions and deterrents to suicide in a crisis.MethodWe assessed older and middle-aged (42-97 years) individuals who made high-lethality (medically serious) (n = 31) and low-lethality suicide attempts (n = 29). Comparison groups included suicide ideators (n = 30), nonsuicidal depressed participants (n = 53), and psychiatrically healthy participants (n = 28). Attempters, ideators, and nonsuicidal depressed participants had nonpsychotic major depression (DSM-IV criteria). Decision biases included sunk cost (inability to abort an action for which costs are irrecoverable), framing (responding to superficial features of how a problem is presented), underconfidence/overconfidence (appropriateness of confidence in knowledge), and inconsistent risk perception. Data were collected between June 2010 and February 2014.ResultsBoth high- and low-lethality attempters were more susceptible to framing effects as compared to the other groups included in this study (P ≤ .05, ηp2 = 0.06). In contrast, low-lethality attempters were more susceptible to sunk costs than both the comparison groups and high-lethality attempters (P ≤ .01, ηp2 = 0.09). These group differences remained after accounting for age, global cognitive performance, and impulsive traits. Premorbid IQ partially explained group differences in framing effects.ConclusionsSuicide attempters' failure to resist framing may reflect their inability to consider a decision from an objective standpoint in a crisis. Failure of low-lethality attempters to resist sunk cost may reflect their tendency to confuse past and future costs of their behavior, lowering their threshold for acting on suicidal thoughts.

Project description:ImportanceSchizophrenia is generally considered to be among the most severe psychiatric disorders because of the excessive mortality associated with it. Research to find means to reduce this excessive mortality is warranted.ObjectiveTo investigate associations of long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) with all-cause, natural-cause, and suicide mortality risks as well as the impacts of early use of LAIs in patients with newly diagnosed schizophrenia.Design, setting, and participantsThis cohort study used data from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database to construct a population-based cohort of patients with schizophrenia who received oral antipsychotics (OAPs) from January 1, 2002, to December 31, 2017. Within this cohort, the LAI group was defined as patients who switched to LAIs and were prescribed LAIs at least 4 times within 1 year. The LAI group was propensity matched 1:1 to patients who continued receiving OAPs of the same compounds. All patients were followed up until switching the antipsychotic administration route, death, or the end of the study (December 31, 2018), whichever occurred first. Data analysis was performed from January 2002 to December 2018.Main outcomes and measuresAll-cause mortality, natural-cause mortality, suicide mortality, and suicide attempts.ResultsIn total, 2614 patients who switched to LAIs (median [interquartile range] {IQR} age, 30 [23-39] years) and 2614 who received OAPs (median [IQR] age, 30 [23-39] years) were included (1333 male patients [51.0%] in each group). During the 16-year follow-up period (median [IQR] follow-up of 14 [10-17] years), patients who switched to LAIs had lower risks of all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.66; 95% CI, 0.54-0.81), natural-cause mortality (aHR, 0.63; 95% CI, 0.52-0.76), and suicide attempts (incidence rate ratio, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.55-0.93) compared with patients who received the corresponding OAPs. A 47% lower suicide mortality risk (aHR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.30-0.92) was observed in patients who switched to LAIs within the first 2 years of OAP initiation.Conclusions and relevanceThese findings suggest that LAI use in patients with newly diagnosed schizophrenia is associated with decreased all-cause mortality and suicide risk. Furthermore, early treatment with LAIs within the first 2 years of OAP initiation was associated with a decrease in suicide mortality risk. Thus, LAI use in the early stage of treatment should be actively considered for patients with newly diagnosed schizophrenia.

Dataset Information

Comparative Effectiveness of Antipsychotics for Risk of Attempted or Completed Suicide Among Persons With Schizophrenia.

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Comparative Effectiveness of Antipsychotics for Risk of Attempted or Completed Suicide Among Persons With Schizophrenia.

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