The Effect of  Long-acting Antipsychotic Treatment on the Level on Care Burden in Schizophrenia Patients

Abstract

Background: Most patients with schizophrenia are unable to fulfill their personal and social responsibilities and these are met by their caregivers. The concept of 'burden' has come to the fore for caregivers. Long-acting injectables have been shown to reduce relapse rates, and provide a better level of functionality, but their effect on caregiver burden has not been investigated. Objective: Our aim in this study is to investigate the effect of transition from oral to long-acting antipsychotic treatments on caregiver burden. Other factors that may be related to the burden were also discussed.Setting: This study was performed at Community Mental Health Center of Erzurum Regional Training and Research Hospital.Methods: Caregivers (n:138) of patients diagnosed with schizophrenia for at least one year and who received oral paliperidone or aripiprazole were evaluated at baseline and 1 year after switching to long-acting injectables.Main outcome measure: The Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale (ZCBS) and the Clinical Global Impression-Disease Severity (CGI-S) were administered. Demographic characteristics of caregivers and patients were evaluated.Results: Significant decreases were found in the ZCBS and CGI-S scores after transitioning to long-acting injectable antipsychotics (p <0.001). Caregiver burden was positively correlated with patient's age, CGI-S score, time spent in the same house, duration of illness, and the number of hospitalizations. A significant negative correlation was found among the caregiver’s age, educational level, and income (p <0.05).Conclusion: In the present study, the importance of switching to long-acting injectable antipsychotics, which is a modifiable factor, to reduce caregiver burden was emphasized