Cost difference between treatment with long-acting injection and oral antipsychotics in schizophrenia: prospective study in NHS, UK population

Abstract

Objective: The present study aims to compare long acting injection antipsychotic and oral antipsychotics in reducing the overall cost of treatment. Method: The data for the present study was extracted from the primary data collected for a Pragmatic, Multicenter, Phase III Randomized Control Trial (IMPaCT). The patients who were treated with antipsychotics at baseline were selected from the IMPaCT study data set. The patients were divided into two cohorts based on their mode of antipsychotic administration: Oral cohort and Long acting injection cohort. The primary outcome were difference health and social care and social care costs in oral and LAI cohort. Results: Data for 195 patients was extracted from the IMPaCT study database. 153 (78.4%) patients met the criteria for oral cohort and 42 (21.5%) patients were assigned to the depot cohort. Mann-Whitney U test showed no significant difference between the two cohorts in health and social care cost at 12 months follow up. (p=0.995). Furthermore, there was no difference in societal costs between the cohorts. (p=0.55). Conclusion: The results from the present study suggest that the costs associated with treatment of Long acting injection antipsychotic is comparable to costs in treatment with oral antipsychotics.