Reduction of healthcare resource utilisation and costs following the use of risperidone for patients with schizophrenia previously treated with standard antipsychotic therapy - A retrospective analysis using the Saskatchewan Health Linkable Databases

The objective of this study was to assess the change in healthcare resource utilisation and costs related to the initiation of risperidone therapy in patients with chronic schizophrenia. The study design used a retrospective cohort and linked data from 5 databases (patient, prescription drug, hospital, physician and mental health services) within the province of Saskatchewan. Study participants included all those patients who were registered in the Saskatchewan Health Linkable Data Files and received at least 1 prescription for risperidone between 1 July 1993 and 31 December 1993. In order to receive risperidone in Saskatchewan, patients needed to have failed or become intolerant to previous antipsychotic therapy. Utilisation information from the databases was collected for equivalent periods, in this case an average of 10 months, before and after initiation of risperidone. Results were as follows: hospital admissions decreased by 60.3%, length of hospital stay decreased by 58.2%, and physician visits decreased by 22.3%, after initiation of risperidone. There was also a slight reduction in visits to mental health services. The cost of antipsychotic medication increased during risperidone treatment; however, when all costs were added up, there was an estimated annual cost saving of $Can7925/patient/year after initiation of risperidone. Such results need to be interpreted in the light of possible mitigating effects operative in longitudinal studies of schizophrenia.