Clinical and economic outcomes associated with olanzapine for the treatment of psychotic symptoms in a county mental health population.

Background: The comparatively high acquisition costs of the newer antipsychotic medications have caused the mental health community to look closely at their potential benefits.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to perform a naturalistic analysis of changes in mental health service utilization, economic costs, and clinical outcomes after the initiation of olanzapine therapy for psychotic symptoms in an indigent patient population from a large county-operated mental health care system.

Methods: This was a prospective, uncontrolled investigation using a mirror-image cohort design.