Effectiveness of Antipsychotic Treatments in a Nationwide Cohort of Patients in Community Care After First Hospitalisation due to Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective Disorder: Observational Follow-up Study

This study included 2230 consecutive adults hospitalized in Finland for the first time, January 1995-December 2001, because of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder in order to study the association between prescribed antipsychotic drugs & the outcome. The results show that during an average follow-up of 3.6 years, 4640 cases of re-hospitalization were recorded. Mortality was raised in patients not taking antipsychotics & the risk of suicide was high. (8 refs)