Psychopharmacological Treatment Patterns in Patients with Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder in Forensic Inpatient Settings

Korean J Leg Med 2017;41:115-121

1. Department of Medicine, Graduate School of Wonkwang University, Iksan, Korea,

2. Shinsegae Hospital, Gimje, Korea,

3. Department of General Psychiatry, National Forensic Hospital, Gongju, Korea

E-mail: dblee.x7@gmail.com

The National Forensic Hospital is the only forensic psychiatric hospital in Korea. As of January 2016, the average number of patients assigned to each psychiatrist is more than 120. In this situation, the role of psychopharmacologic treatment becomes very important. To investigate the prescription patterns of major psychotropic medications (i.e., antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and antidepressants), we reviewed the medical records of the patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder who were admitted in January 2016. The data from 418 patients (403 with schizophrenia and 15 with schizoaffective disorder) were retrospectively collected and analyzed. The average number of major psychotropic medications prescribed for each patient during hospitalization was as follows: antipsychotics, 3.5±1.8; mood stabilizers, 0.5±0.7; and antidepressants, 0.5±0.8. The three most frequently prescribed antipsychotics were risperidone (21.7%), olanzapine (15.5%), and quetiapine (14.4%). More than half of the patients (233, 55.9%) were prescribed an antipsychotic polypharmacy regimen. This study found that patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder in forensic psychiatric hospital tend to be prescribed many psychotropic medications.

Key Words:  Schizophrenia; Forensic psychiatry; Prescribing pattern; Psychopharmacology; Polypharmacy