EULAST: No clear benefits to prescribing long-acting over oral antipsychotics for early-phase schizophrenia

摘要

Long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIAs) showed no substantial advantage over oral antipsychotics in terms of time to discontinuation in patients with early-phase schizophrenia, the EULAST trial has demonstrated. Medication discontinuation is by far the most important reason for schizophrenia relapse. However, almost half of schizophrenia patients take <70 percent of their oral antipsychotic medication. Theoretically, switching patients from oral antipsychotics to LAIAs may enhance medication adherence, thereby reducing the risk of relapse. [Lancet Psychiatry 2023;doi: 10.1016/S2215-0366(23)00005-6] To compare all-cause discontinuation rates with oral antipsychotics vs LAIAs, the researchers conducted the EULAST trial in 15 European countries and Israel. “To our knowledge, it is the first large, pragmatic, open-label randomized clinical trial comparing LAIAs with their oral equivalents in patients with early-phase schizophrenia,” wrote the researchers.