Abstract
Objective
Psychotropic-related weight gain is a common concern among patients with bipolar disorder (BD). This concern affects satisfaction with treatment and may lead to non-adherence and relapse. This was a 12-week, uncontrolled prospective trial of patient-choice–facilitated ziprasidone switching among non-adherent BD patients with weight concerns. This study was conducted from January 2011 to July 2012.
Method
Patients were asked to identify the “offending” BD medication which they believed was causing weight problems, and this agent was replaced with ziprasidone. The primary outcome was change in adherence as measured with the Tablets Routine Questionnaire (TRQ). Secondary outcomes included medication attitudes, BD symptoms, global psychopathology, social functioning, and quality of life.
Results
The most common agents causing weight concerns were quetiapine (N=7, 23%), aripiprazole (N=4, 13%), olanzapine, lithium, and divalproex (all N=3, 10%). Adherence improved from a baseline of missing 48.6% of prescribed BD medication in the past week (44.9% in the past month) to missing 25.3% (P=0.002) of prescribed BD medication in the past week (P<0.001, in the past month) at endpoint. Medication attitudes, symptoms, functioning, and quality of life improved but there were no differences in body weight.
Conclusion
While findings must be tempered by methodological limitations such as small sample and uncontrolled design, patient-facilitated medication-switching appeared to improve adherence and BD outcomes in these non-adherent individuals. Additional studies involving patient-facilitated medication-switching and shared decision-making in BD are needed.
Disclosure
Dr Sajatovic has been the recipient of research grants from Pfizer, Merck, and Ortho-McNeil Janssen and is a consultant to Bracket/United BioSource, Prophase, Otsuka, Pfizer, and Amgen. Dr Curtis Tatsuoka receives financial support from Pfizer.
This study was supported by an investigator-initiated research grant from Pfizer, USA (New York, NY, USA; all authors; grant #WS883414).
The study has been registered on ClinicalTrials.gov with ID Number: NCT01293825. Portions of this data have been presented at the 9th International Conference on Bipolar Disorder; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; June 10, 2011, and 10th International Conference on Bipolar Disorder; Miami, FL, USA; June 15, 2013.
The authors report no other conflicts of interest in this work.