A Study of Polypharmacy with Second Generation Antipsychotics in Patients with Severe and Persistent Mental Illness

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of empirical support for polypharmacy with second generation (atypical) antipsychotics (SGAs), especially in understudied populations. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the frequency, effectiveness, and safety of this practice in patients with severe and persistent mental illness who are chronically hospitalized. METHODS: A chart review was conducted at a state psychiatric hospital in Syracuse, NY. The study subjects (N=26) were chronically hospitalized individuals with DSM-IV diagnoses of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who were initially prescribed at least one SGA and then received at least one other SGA during the study period. Demographic and clinical data were collected. Baseline and 6-month assessments were compared for statistical significance (p<0.05). RESULTS: Of the 117 chronically hospitalized inpatients at the study center, 22.2% (N=26) received treatment regimens involving polypharmacy with SGAs. These patients as a group achieved statistically significant reductions on their scores on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (34.2 +/- 11.0 compared with 25.3 +/- 11.8; p=0.016) and the Clinical Global Impressions-Improvement Scale (5.5 +/- 0.6 compared with. 5.0 +/- 0.8; p=0.016) at 6 months. There was a significant decrease in the use of prn medications (7.6 +/- 19.6 compared with 1.6 +/- 2.6; p<0.04). However, the number of patients receiving anticholinergic medications increased from 5 to 8 (p<0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Polypharmacy with SGAs is quite frequent among chronic inpatients with severe and persistent mental illness despite a limited empirical database supporting its use. The results of our pilot study do not demonstrate the effectiveness and safety of this practice. However, methodological shortcomings may have contributed to our failure to detect a true, positive effect. Controlled studies are needed to accurately determine the risks and benefits of SGA polypharmacy.