Clozapine and long-acting injectable antipsychotic medications were the pharmacologic treatments with the highest rates of prevention of relapse in schizophrenia. The risk of rehospitalization is about 20% to 30% lower during long-acting injectable treatments compared with equivalent oral formulations.

Among patients with schizophrenia, LAI use is associated with an approximately 30% lower risk of death compared with oral agents. SG LAIs and oral aripiprazole are associated with the lowest mortality.

Objective To evaluate the association between pioglitazone use and bladder cancer risk in patients with type 2 diabetes.Design Retrospective cohort study using propensity score matched cohorts.Settings Healthcare databases from Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Data comprised country specific datasets of linked records on prescriptions, hospitals, general practitioners, cancer, and deaths.Participants Patients with type 2 diabetes who initiated pioglitazone (n=56 337) matched with patients with type 2 diabetes in the same country exposed to diabetes drug treatments other than pioglitazone (n=317 109). Two matched cohorts were created, using a 1:1 fixed ratio (nearest match cohort) and a 1:10 variable ratio (multiple match cohort). Patients were matched on treatment history and propensity scores accounting for several variables associated with pioglitazone initiation.Main outcome measures Hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals were estimated by Cox’s proportional hazards model with adjustments for relevant confounders. To assess the robustness of the findings, several sensitivity and stratified analyses were performed.Results In the cohort exposed to pioglitazone treatment, 130 bladder cancers occurred over a mean follow-up time of 2.9 years. In the nearest match and multiple match cohorts not exposed to pioglitazone treatment, 153 and 970 bladder cancers were recorded, with a mean follow‑up time of 2.8 and 2.9 years, respectively. With regards to bladder cancer risk, the adjusted hazard ratio for patients ever exposed versus never exposed to pioglitazone was 0.99 (95% confidence interval 0.75 to 1.30) and 1.00 (0.83 to 1.21) in the nearest and multiple match cohorts, respectively. Increasing duration of pioglitazone use and increasing cumulative dose were not associated with risk of bladder cancer (>48 months of pioglitazone use, adjusted hazard ratio 0.86 (0.44 to 1.66); >40 000 mg cumulative dose, 0.65 (0.33 to 1.26) in the nearest match cohort).Conclusions This study shows no evidence of an association between ever use of pioglitzone and risk of bladder cancer compared with never use, which is consistent with results from other recent studies that also included a long follow-up period.Trial registration Registered to the European Union electronic register of post-authorisation studies (EU PAS register no EUPAS3626).

Parents of patients with schizophrenia have a considerably higher risk of psychiatric health care and social welfare benefit receipt than other parents. Psychiatric health care use worsens over time and with increasing disease severity of the offspring.

ObjectivesDescribe and compare the risk of cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality in patients whose antidiabetic therapy is modified to include pioglitazone compared with an alternative antidiabetic medication at the same stage of disease progression.Research design and methodsThis exploratory linked database cohort analysis used pooled health and mortality data from three European countries: Finland, Sweden and the UK. Propensity score together with exact matching was used to match 31 133 patients with type 2 diabetes first prescribed pioglitazone from 2000 to 2011, to 31 133 patients never prescribed pioglitazone. Exact matching variables were treatment stage, history of diabetes, diabetes complications and cardiovascular disease, and year of cohort entry. Mean follow-up time was 2.60 (SD 2.00) and 2.69 (SD 2.31) years in the pioglitazone and non-pioglitazone-exposed groups, respectively. Crude cause-specific mortality rates were ascertained. Association with pioglitazone use was estimated using Cox proportional hazards models adjusted a priori for country, age, sex, the propensity score quintile and time-dependent variables representing use of antidiabetic drugs. Stepwise testing identified no additional confounders to include in adjusted models.ResultsThe crude mortality rate was lower in the pioglitazone-exposed group than the non-exposed group for both cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality. Adjusted HRs comparing pioglitazone to alternative antidiabetic exposure were 0.58 (95% CI 0.52 to 0.63) and 0.63 (95% CI 0.58 to 0.68) for cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality, respectively. A protective effect associated with pioglitazone was also found for all specific cardiovascular causes.ConclusionsThis analysis suggests that pioglitazone is associated with a decrease in both cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular mortality. Results should be interpreted with caution due to the potential for residual confounding in this exploratory analysis. Further studies, specifically designed to test the association between pioglitazone use and patient-focused outcomes, are suggested.Study registration numberEuropean Network of Centres for Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacovigilance (ENCePP; EUPAS3626).