Pull patients out of the "revolving door" dilemma! Doctors reveal 4 major benefits of long-acting injections for "schizophrenia"
The budget implementation rate of long-acting injections to reduce the recurrence of schizophrenia is expected to reach 80%
Schizophrenia is a common mental illness that affects logic and thinking ability. There are approximately 150,000 people with schizophrenia in Taiwan. If you do not regularly take medication and return for follow-up visits in accordance with the doctor’s instructions, it is easy to fail to control the acute attack well after being admitted to the hospital for treatment and discharge, resulting in a “revolving door” phenomenon of readmission to the hospital.
The study found that among patients with schizophrenia who were followed for one year, nearly 72% failed to take their medications as prescribed. Once medication compliance was poor, they were not only prone to relapse, but were also twice as likely to be hospitalized again, and the rate of symptom improvement was also significantly reduced by 34%. In order to encourage people with schizophrenia to receive regular treatment and build a stronger social safety net, the National Health Insurance Administration of the Ministry of Health and Welfare has adopted an independent drug budget of 2.7 billion for long-acting injections for schizophrenia starting from 2022, and also targeted post-acute care. Services are allocated $60 million.
Tsai Chang-che, chairman of the Taiwan Psychiatric Association, pointed out that the independent budget for long-acting injections for schizophrenia is 2.7 billion, and the implementation rate has reached 40% in the first half of the year, and is expected to reach more than 80% for the whole year, showing substantial growth compared with last year. Compared with oral drugs, long-acting injections can help maintain smooth drug concentrations in the blood. For patients with schizophrenia, each relapse is equivalent to another damage to the brain. In the past, patients who used oral medications had to experience an average of four relapses before they were willing to receive long-acting injections. Promoting early intervention with long-acting injections is one of the important ways to help patients with schizophrenia avoid recurrence.
The four major benefits of long-acting injections for schizophrenia can be administered up to once every 6 months
Chairman Cai Changzhe said that long-acting injections for schizophrenia have four major benefits, including reducing the risk of emergency visits by about 40%, reducing hospitalization rates by 60%, and more importantly, significantly reducing mortality by 60%, and 6-month The proportion of patients returning to the hospital for emergency treatment within a certain period of time. Currently, long-acting injections for schizophrenia are available in 1-month, 3-month, and most recently 6-month formulations. Patients and family members can jointly decide on treatment decisions and drug selection (Shared decision) with the attending physician based on their care needs. making, SDM).
In addition, when the lack of disease awareness or willingness to take medication causes tension between patients and caregivers, long-acting injections can not only help maintain better control of the disease, but also alleviate conflicts in family relationships. Patients with schizophrenia are reminded to grasp the golden treatment period of 5 years after the onset of the disease and actively cooperate with the doctor’s instructions to take medication regularly.
Dispelling myths about treating schizophrenia and improving medication compliance is key
There are currently two types of treatment drugs for schizophrenia: oral and injection. Since oral drugs are more likely to cause medication interruption or poor efficacy, international and Taiwanese expert guidelines recommend that long-acting injections be considered as early as possible. Dr. Kuo Chien-che from the Taipei City Hospital Heping Songde Branch pointed out that there are two main keys to the treatment of schizophrenia: one is long-acting injections, and the other is community support. In particular, people with mental illness are prone to a higher risk of suicide due to impulsiveness. . At present, the proportion of home treatment for schizophrenia accounts for about 1/10 of the total. Complete home care combined with regular routine treatment is an important key to helping patients successfully return to society.
Dr. Cai Changzhe said that Taiwanese people still have a few myths about the use of long-acting injections for schizophrenia. For example, patients worry about whether they need to change medications because their condition worsens. The medical team will explain to patients that both injections and oral medications are effective for schizophrenia. Regarding treatment methods, long-acting injections help maintain the therapeutic effect, are more convenient, and can improve medication compliance compared to oral medications.
President Huang Mingqi of the Taipei City Hospital Heping Songde Branch said that in addition to educating the society to learn more about the causes and correct knowledge of schizophrenia, he also hopes to let patients and caregivers understand the help of long-acting injections in disease control through the promotion of health education materials. , with the promotion and support of health insurance and government policies, we look forward to helping more patients with schizophrenia to turn their lives around and return to their families and society.
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