Long-acting injectable antipsychotic (LAI) prescribing trends during COVID-19 restrictions in Canada: a retrospective observational study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has had significant impacts on how mental health services are delivered to patients throughout Canada. The reduction of in-person healthcare services have created unique challenges for individuals with psychotic disorders that require regular clinic visits to administer and monitor long-acting injectable antipsychotic medications. METHODS: To better understand how LAI usage was impacted, national and provincial patient-level longitudinal prescribing data from Canadian retail pharmacies were used to examine LAI prescribing practices during the pandemic. Prescribing data on new starts of medication, discontinuations of medications, switches between medications, antipsychotic name, concomitant medications, payer plan, gender and age were collected from January 2019 to December 2020 for individuals ≥18-years of age, and examined by month, as well as by distinct pandemic related epochs characterized by varying degrees of public awareness, incidence of COVID-19 infections and public health restrictions. RESULTS: National, and provincial level data revealed that rates of LAI prescribing including new starts, discontinuations and switches between LAI products remained highly stable (i.e., no statistically significant differences) throughout the study period. CONCLUSIONS: Equal numbers of LAI new starts and discontinuations prior to and during the pandemic suggests prescribing of LAI antipsychotics, for those already in care, continued unchanged throughout the pandemic. The observed consistency of LAI prescribing contrasts with other areas of healthcare, such as cardiovascular and diabetes care, which experienced decreases in medication prescribing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Are There Therapeutic Benefits of Cannabinoid Products in Adult Mental Illness?

A position statement developed by the Canadian Psychiatric Association's (CPA) Research Committee and approved by the CPA's Board of Directors on May 13, 2020.

Short communication: Prevalence of long-acting injectable antipsychotic use in Canadian early intervention services for psychosis.

The use of long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotic drugs for psychotic disorders in Canada has been historically low compared to other jurisdictions despite advantages of LAIs in improving medication adherence and preventing relapse. In response, treatment recommendations were developed in 2013 by the Canadian Consortium for Early Intervention in Psychosis and other Canadian provincial expert groups. The impact of these guidelines needed to be assessed. To document practices in LAI use in early intervention services (EIS) for psychosis, Canadian EIS were surveyed in 2016 (n = 18) and 2020 (n = 12). Trends and descriptive information were examined using repeated cross-sectional survey data. Eight EIS responded to surveys at both time points allowing for longitudinal comparisons. Outcomes of interest included i) LAI use frequency, ii) timing of LAI starts, and iii) factors influencing LAI use. Cross-sectional analysis identified a significant increase in overall LAI usage (24.7% in 2016; 35.1% in 2020). Longitudinal analysis indicated that patients in the second program year saw the greatest increase in LAI use between 2016 and 2020 (25.6% vs. 36.1%), especially among patients under community treatment orders (65.5% vs. 81.5%). Results support increases in LAI use over time, accessibility, awareness, and increasing comfortability among Canadian clinicians.

Potential therapeutic benefits of cannabinoid products in adult psychiatric disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

The utility of cannabinoids and cannabinoid-based products (CBPs) as a pharmacological aid to treat psychiatric disorders in adulthood is still poorly understood despite a number of comprehensive general reviews discussing the topic. With a focus on randomized controlled trial (RCT) data, this review and meta-analysis aimed to aggregate and evaluate all current high-quality (Level-1) research that specifically assessed the effectiveness of a CBP on a diagnosed adult psychiatric disorder. The following databases, from their inception to September 2020, were included in the search: Academic Search Premier, PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE®, Web of Science™, PsycARTICLES, PsycINFO, CINAHL (Nursing and Allied Health), and Scopus. Risk of bias for each study was individually assessed using the revised Cochrane tool. Of the 2397 papers identified, thirty-one RCTs met criteria for inclusion: ten trials focused on treating cannabis use disorder, six on schizophrenia, five on opioid/tobacco use disorder, three on anxiety disorders, two on Tourette's disorder, two on anorexia nervosa, and one trial each for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, and obsessive compulsive disorder. This review finds limited evidence for the effectiveness of CBPs to acutely treat a narrow range of psychiatric symptoms. We report no evidence supporting the mid- to long-range effectiveness of any currently available CBP. In general, quality of the evidence was assessed as low- to moderate. Importantly, none of the studies discussed in this review presently endorse the use of cannabis flower as a method of treatment for any recognized psychiatric disorder. Larger, hypothesis driven RCTs are required prior to making further therapeutic recommendations.