Patterns of risperidone prescription: a utilization study in south-west France.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the patterns of prescriptions associated with risperidone in naturalistic clinical practice. METHOD: We analysed 500 prescription forms randomly selected from the social security insurance database in Aquitaine (south-west France). RESULTS: The prevalence of co-prescription was 42.5% for antidepressants, 46.4% for benzodiazepines, 26.6% for other neuroleptics, 21.8% for mood stabilizers and 19% for anticholinergic drugs. The high prevalence of co-prescribed antidepressants (59.3% Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) may be explained by the frequent comorbidity of mood disorders in schizophrenia, and by the fact that risperidone was prescribed in naturalistic conditions in disorders other than schizophrenia. CONCLUSION: The high level of concomitant drug prescription in patients treated with risperidone illustrates the gap between clinical trials and utilization in naturalistic settings. The association antidepressant-risperidone has been insufficiently studied for efficacy or safety, and has to be explored further from both a pharmacological and clinical point of view.