Long-term outcome of depot neuroleptic maintenance treatment among chronic psychotic patients

A total of 51 chronic psychotic out-patients, with a median age of 51 years and median duration of psychosis of 23 years, treated with depot neuroleptics, entered a 5-year follow-up study with assessments of symptoms, side-effects and plasma concentration of the depot drug (follow-up (FU) patients). The outcome for 38 non-eligible (NE) patients was obtained from hospital case reports. The relapse rate was higher for NE than for FU patients (71% vs. 50%). The mortality rate was 9%, and the median age at death was 47 years. Half of the FU patients completed 3 years of treatment uneventfully. Of the total of 89 patients, only 18% remained stable over a period of 5 years. The depot dose was approximately the same after 3 years (median 255 mg, range 50-1018 mg chlorpromazine equivalents).