Aripiprazole augmentation in highly treatment-resistant obsessive–compulsive disorder – experience from a specialty clinic in India

Abstract

Objective: To study the effectiveness and tolerability of aripiprazole augmentation in patients with highly treatment-resistant obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) in a real-world scenario.

Methods: We conducted a chart review of patients who were initiated on aripiprazole augmentation at a specialty OCD clinic in India between 2004 and 2014. Primary outcome measure was all-cause discontinuation.

Results: 23 patients were eligible for analysis. Patients had not achieved symptom remission despite a mean of over 3 prior SRI trials. Aripiprazole was continued to be used in seven patients (30%) at the time of last follow-up. Thirteen patients (57%) discontinued the drug due to side effects, and three patients (13%) discontinued aripiprazole citing no improvement. Six patients (26%) were noted to have ≥25% reduction on the Yale-Brown Obsessive–Compulsive Scale.

Conclusions: The study demonstrated, in a real-world setting, that aripiprazole may be a useful augmenting agent in a proportion of patients with highly treatment-resistant OCD. However, side effects may lead to premature discontinuation in many of them.

Keywords:

• Aripiprazole
• augmentation
• OCD
• obsessive–compulsive disorder
• resistant

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Malvika Ravi and Dr. Aditi Singh of the OCD clinic and staff of the Medical Records Section of the institute who facilitated data collection.

Disclosure statement

None to declare.