Treatment Costs and Patient Outcomes With Use of Risperidone in a Public Mental Health Setting

OBJECTIVE: Risperidone's effectiveness in reducing symptoms and its cost were compared with the effectiveness and cost of standard antipsychotic medication among matched groups of outpatients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Data on 56 subjects started on risperidone were compared with data for a matched group of 56 subjects over the 12 months before and after initiation of risperidone. Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) scores were used to assess effectiveness. Service utilization data were used to calculate the cost of treatment. RESULTS: Total treatment costs for the two groups were not significantly different, although there was a trend toward higher costs in the risperidone group. Monthly GAF scores revealed no group differences in the effectiveness of the medications. CONCLUSIONS: No significant differences in treatment effectiveness or costs were found between the risperidone and comparison groups, despite a trend to higher treatment costs for the risperidone group.