Quetiapine, Misuse and Dependency: A Case-Series of Questions to a Norwegian Network of Drug Information Centers

Abstract

Purpose

The second-generation antipsychotic quetiapine has been associated with misuse and dependency. We aimed to review questions to the Norwegian network of drug information centers concerning this potential drug safety problem.

Methods

We conducted a Boolean search in the database of the Regional Medicines Information and Pharmacovigilance Centres in Norway (RELIS) combining the indexed categories “quetiapine” and “adverse drug reaction” with the text words “misuse” or “dependency”. Question–answer pairs (Q/As) in the full-text, searchable RELIS database were defined as cases. Cases were analyzed for drug safety issues linked to use of quetiapine, including off-label use, polypharmacy and other patient risk factors.

Results

The search resulted in 54 cases. Forty-six cases (85%) were patient-related, and a majority came from physicians working in hospitals. Twenty-nine cases (54%) concerned patients with a history of addiction, 14 cases (26%) had polypharmacy, and off-label use of quetiapine for insomnia was identified in 14 of the cases (26%). Only three of the cases included a specific question about patient dependency of quetiapine, and these cases were all associated with insomnia.

Conclusion

We conclude that our case series from the Norwegian network of drug information centres reflects that quetiapine frequently involves clinical narratives of a history of addiction, polypharmacy or insomnia (off-label use). However, the case series did not reveal new information about the drug’s addictive potential.

Keywords:

• off-label
• insomnia
• drug safety
• addiction
• abuse

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work. There was no external funding of this study. The data accessed from RELIS is freely available to staff at RELIS, and no review or approval was required for this research. No further data, besides what is included in the manuscript, will be shared.