Identifying longitudinal medication adherence patterns of antipsychotic
treatments: A real-world cohort study in Catalonia, Spain.
Abstract
Introduction: Suboptimal adherence to antipsychotics leads to poorer
outcomes and relapse. The adherence behaviour of people may be
influenced by several factors including the number of antipsychotics
used and their formulation. This study aimed to identify longitudinal
adherence patterns to oral and long-acting injectable (LAI)
antipsychotics in monotherapy or polypharmacy through group-based
trajectory modelling (GBTM). Methods: This was a retrospective cohort
study that linked prescription and dispensing data of adult patients
with a new antipsychotic prescribed between 2015-2019 in Catalonia
(Spain). GBTM was used to classify patients following a similar
longitudinal pattern of adherence. The response variable was adherence,
estimated through the continuous medication availability measure (CMA),
in each 30-day period during 12 months of follow-up. Baseline and
treatment characteristics were used to characterize the trajectories
identified. Results: Among the 7,730 patients included in the study, we
identified seven clinically distinct trajectory groups of adherence to
antipsychotics: “non-adherent” (19%), “low adherent” (9%),
“early-decline” (6%), “mid-decline” (5%), “late-decline” (5%),
“high adherent” (21%), and “fully adherent” (35%). Trajectories
with better adherence were more likely to receive the prescription from
a psychiatrist, receive LAIs and have previous exposure to other
antipsychotics. Intermittent medication use patterns and high levels of
polypharmacy were characteristics of the “low” and “high adherent”
groups. Conclusions: The trajectories reflect three adherence
behaviours: stable over time; patients who discontinue treatment and;
patients with an intermittent refill pattern. Patients on polypharmacy
should have more regular adherence monitoring and LAIs should be
considered, as they appear to be associated with better adherence.