Pharmacoepidemiology and severe mental illness

Poor adherence to psychopharmacological treatment regimen in severe mental illness such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder is associated with higher risk of relapse, rehospitalization and suicide. There’s a paucity of studies of prescription patterns of antipsychotics and mood-stabilizers in Sweden and determinants of adherence and rehospitalization. There are few studies of clinically representative populations, as clinical trials tend to include minority of the patients seen in the clinical setting – biased towards less severely ill patients. Our studies are performed by using population based health registers. This project is performed in close collaboration with associate professor Helle Kieler’s group at the Centre for Pharmacoepidemiology at Karolinska Institutet.

PI: Robert Bodén