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CNS & Neurological Disorders - Drug Targets

Editor-in-Chief

ISSN (Print): 1871-5273
ISSN (Online): 1996-3181

Review Article

Suicide Prevention in Schizophrenia: Do Long-Acting Injectable Antipsychotics (LAIs) have a Role?

Author(s): Maurizio Pompili*, Laura Orsolini, Dorian A. Lamis, David R. Goldsmith, Adele Nardella, Giulia Falcone, Valentina Corigliano, Mario Luciano and Andrea Fiorillo

Volume 16, Issue 4, 2017

Page: [454 - 462] Pages: 9

DOI: 10.2174/1871527316666170223163629

Price: $65

Abstract

Suicide risk is a major cause of death among patients with schizophrenia. Death by suicide has been reported in approximately 5% of schizophrenia patients although this figure appears to be an underestimate of the problem. A number of risk factors are routinely reported as associated with suicide risk among these patients, some of which are modifiable by targeted therapeutic strategies. Clozapine is the only compound that gathered evidence as an effective treatment for reducing suicide risk in schizophrenia. Long-Acting Injectable Antipsychotics (LAIs) have a range of advantages in terms of efficacy, safety and tolerability in the treatment of schizophrenia, and one area of interest is whether LAI-treatment may decrease suicidality by indirectly acting on a range of risk factors for suicide specific to schizophrenia patients. This background encouraged the present review of research pertaining to LAIs in relation to modifiable risk factors for suicide in schizophrenia. We viewed our task as gathering, speculating and critically appraising the available research relevant to the topic, with the aim of formulating a hypothesis to be tested with further research.

Keywords: Long-acting injectable antipsychotics, prevention, schizophrenia, suicide, pharmacological, hallucination.

Graphical Abstract

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