Objective: The great discrepancy between clinical guidelines and the routine psychiatric practice in the treatment of schizophrenia is a subject of intensive research, with the aim to promote the rational prescribing of antipsychotics. The aim of this study was to analyze the pattern of drug prescribing in the treatment of inpatients with the first episode of schizophrenia spectrum disorders and the impact of the implementation of the Serbian National Guideline for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Schizophrenia.
Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the Clinic for Mental Disorders "Dr Laza Lazarević" in Belgrade and included a consecutive sample of 675 previously drug-naïve patients with the first episode of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. The data were obtained from the patients' medical records. The analysis of therapy prescribed at discharge included antipsychotics and non-antipsychotic adjuvant therapy. Descriptive statistical methods and methods for testing statistical hypotheses were used to analyze the primary data.
Results: The prescribing of second-generation antipsychotics has increased both within antipsychotic monotherapy and within antipsychotic polypharmacy during the period of the study. The use of adjuvant non-antipsychotic pharmacotherapy was very common, but use of benzodiazepines, carbamazepine, and anticholinergic drugs significantly decreased. Long-acting forms of antipsychotics have been rarely used (9.3%). Clozapine was in general underprescribed (10.4%).
Conclusion: The National Guideline for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Schizophrenia most likely contributed to some positive changes in prescribing patterns during the treatment of the first psychotic episode in daily clinical practice in Serbia. However, antipsychotic polypharmacy and irrational use of adjuvant therapy was still prevalent.