Is rehospitalization a measure of the efficacy of neuroleptics in the treatment of schizophrenia?

This study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of standard neuroleptic treatment versus depot neuroleptic treatment. The major criterion for evaluation was the number of patients hospitalized. Patients were chosen on the basis of their rating by the ICD-10 classification for schizophrenic disorders. The first study period was defined as the time when patients were treated with standard neuroleptics; the second was when patients were treated with depot neuroleptics. There were 231 hospitalizations during the first period, which involved 48 patients, i.e. 4.8 hospitalizations per patient. The mean total duration of these hospitalizations was 5.2 years, i.e. it was on average 5 years before the patient was treated with a depot neuroleptic, with 0.93 hospitalizations per year. The duration of the second period was the same as the first. Only 44 patients remained in the study during this period; their mean number of hospitalizations was 7.2 per patient. The mean number of hospitalizations per year per patient was 1.25. The results suggest that the number of hospitalizations is only a partially satisfactory way of evaluating the efficacy of neuroleptic treatments, and questions the relative efficacy of depot neuroleptics compared with standard neuroleptic treatment.