Reasons for initiating long-acting antipsychotics in psychiatric practice: findings from the STAR Network Depot Study.

Background: Long acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics have been claimed to ensure treatment adherence and possibly reduce the daily burden of oral formulations. So far, only surveys investigating the theoretical prescribing attitudes of clinicians have been employed. On this basis, we aimed to investigate reasons for prescribing LAIs in a real-world, unselected sample of patients.

Factors associated with first- versus second-generation long-acting antipsychotics prescribed under ordinary clinical practice in Italy.

Background: For many years, long-acting intramuscular (LAI) antipsychotics have been prescribed predominantly to chronic and severe patients, as a last resort when other treatments failed. Recently, a broader and earlier use of LAIs, particularly second-generation LAIs, has been emphasized. To date, few studies attempted to frame how this change in prescribing took place in real-world practice.

Combinations of QTc-prolonging drugs: towards disentangling pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic effects in their potentially additive nature.

Background: Whether arrhythmia risks will increase if drugs with electrocardiographic (ECG) QT-prolonging properties are combined is generally supposed but not well studied. Based on available evidence, the Arizona Center for Education and Research on Therapeutics (AZCERT) classification defines the risk of QT prolongation for exposure to single drugs. We aimed to investigate how combining AZCERT drug categories impacts QT duration and how relative drug exposure affects the extent of pharmacodynamic drug-drug interactions.

Prevalence and correlates of QTc prolongation in Italian psychiatric care: cross-sectional multicentre study.

Aims: In recent years several warnings have been issued by regulatory authorities on the risk of electrocardiogram abnormalities in individuals exposed to psychotropic drugs. As a consequence of these warnings, monitoring of the QT interval corrected for heart rate (QTc) has become increasingly common. This study was conducted to measure the frequency of QTc prolongation in unselected psychiatric patients, and to document the associated factors using a cross-sectional approach.

First-generation antipsychotics and QTc: any role for mediating variables?

Objective: Corrected QT (QTc) interval prolongation is often associated with use of first-generation antipsychotics (FGAs). However, other factors require appropriate consideration, including age and gender, the role of other known medications associated with QTc prolongation, and severe comorbid conditions, such as co-occurring alcohol abuse/dependence. We aimed to study potential mediating roles of different, related, candidate variables on QTc.