CONTEXT: Peer reviewed retrospective study on medication compliance in bipolar disorders | Japanese data | Given the relatively low costs involved, we feel RWR will play a increasing role in overcoming a lot of the issues in mental health, both in achieving a better understanding of the wide variety of mental health issues, but also how to best to treat individuals.
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1. “Compared to other chronic conditions, adherence to medication therapy is particularly low in patients with BD and other psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia.6 The proportion of days covered (PDC),7,8 a measure of adherence to medication therapy commonly used in studies analyzing administrative claims data, was 44–65% among patients with BD.9–11 Several factors have been reported as related to low adherence among patients with BD, including those patient related (eg, age, sex, distress associated with side effects, and believing medications are no longer needed) and therapy related (ie, the side effects of medication).6,12–16 Regardless of these factors, poor or no adherence to prescribed medications is an issue in patients with BD because it can negatively affect clinical outcomes (eg, relapse, symptoms, quality of life, hospitalizations, risk of suicide attempts, and healthcare costs).14,17 Hence, a better understanding of each of these risk factors may help design suitable interventions to improve adherence in individual patients.7. The guideline for the treatment of BD by the Japanese Society of Mood Disorder (JSMD) recommends lithium as the first-line maintenance treatment.18 The guideline also lists lamotrigine, olanzapine, quetiapine, aripiprazole, and paliperidone as the next recommended treatment options.”
2. “Patients with a diagnosis or prescription record of target drugs for BD 365 days before the index date (ie, between July 1, 2012, and the end of June 2013) during the study period were excluded (ie, only those patients who initiated pharmacological treatments at or after the index date were eligible).”
3. “Baseline variables (only for patients with BD) assessed at the index date/month or 1 and 2 years after the index date/month (ie, during the second- [366 days through 730 days] and third-year [731 days through 1095 days] follow-up) were the following: demographics (age, sex), depression (ICD-10 codes: F32 or F33), comorbidity score, member status, prescription of benzodiazepine drugs, anti-Parkinson drugs, antidepressants, or internal medicines, prescriptions of target drugs (yes or no), internal disorder, and hospital admission or outpatient visits (all departments or psychiatric).”
4. “During the study period, treatment patterns in terms of prescriptions of benzodiazepine drugs, anti-Parkinson drugs, antidepressants, or internal medicines, internal disorder, leave of absence ( ), the number of outpatient visits, hospital admission (all or psychiatric), and the number of blood tests ( ) were analyzed in patients with BD or schizophrenia.”
5. “The treatment patterns of six commonly used drugs in Japan among the target drugs (ie, aripiprazole, olanzapine, quetiapine, sodium valproate, lamotrigine, and lithium) in terms of number of days prescribed, daily dose (in mg), and the first dose of target drugs were analyzed only in patients with BD.”