Purpose: To evaluate injection site reactions and pain following paliperidone palmitate 1-month (PP1M) and 3-month (PP3M) administration using safety data of double-blind (DB), noninferiority study.
Methods: Patients (n = 1,429) with schizophrenia, treated with PP1M (50-150 mg-eq, 17-week open-label [OL] phase) were randomized to PP1M or PP3M in 48-week DB phase.
Findings: PP1M and PP3M injections were well tolerated. Incidence of induration, redness, and swelling were low in both phases (OL: 9-12%; DB: 7-13%), and were mostly mild in both groups. Mean (SD) visual analog scale scores decreased from OL-baseline (22.0 [21.6]) to DB-baseline (19.5 [20.6] vs. 18.4 [20.4]) and DB-endpoint (15.6 [17.9] vs. 15.5 [18.3]).
Practice implications: Injection site reactions and pain were low and similar between both treatments, regardless of administration site and dose.
Keywords: injection site pain; injection site reaction; injection site volume; paliperidone palmitate 1-monthly; paliperidone palmitate 3-monthly; schizophrenia; visual analog scale score.
© 2018 The Authors. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.