Objective: Long-acting injectable (LAI) aripiprazole is recommended to be combined with oral aripiprazole for 2 weeks after its introduction. However, we often experience patients who require more than 2 weeks of combined use. Therefore, differences in combination periods need to be examined.
Methods: This was a case-control study. We surveyed prescription profiles for oral aripiprazole administration in conjunction with LAI aripiprazole introduction and assessed the clinical course during a 12-week follow-up period.
Results: Among 121 patients, 58 (47.9%) were administered both oral and LAI aripiprazole for more than 2 weeks. Although there was no significant difference in treatment failure (defined as psychiatric hospitalization or discontinuation of LAI aripiprazole from any cause) between the two groups, the group that was administered oral aripiprazole for more than 2 weeks received less additional benzodiazepines compared with that of the 2 weeks group (adjusted odds ratio, 0.055; 95% confidence interval [0.0060, 0.50]; p < 0.01).
Conclusions: Our data support a flexible co-administration period for oral and LAI aripiprazole in consideration of the pharmacokinetics, but further studies are needed.
Keywords: antipsychotic agents; aripiprazole; long-acting injection; schizophrenia.
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.