Findings compared with both younger women and similarly aged men<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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MONDAY, Oct. 24, 2022 (HealthDay News) — Antipsychotic effectiveness declines in women after the age of 45 years, according to a study published online Oct. 5 in Schizophrenia Bulletin<\/em>.<\/p>\n Iris E. Sommer, M.D., Ph.D., from the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands, and colleagues used Finnish nationwide registers (61,889 individuals) to identify persons with schizophrenia\/schizoaffective disorder and stratify by sex and age. Hospitalizations for psychosis were assessed by age group from 1996 to 2017.<\/p>\n The researchers found that starting at age 45 to 50 years, women were consistently more often hospitalized for psychosis than their male peers. For antipsychotic monotherapy >0.6 defined daily doses (DDDs)\/day, women aged 45 years and older had a significantly higher risk for psychosis hospitalization than women younger than 45 years and compared with men at >1.1 DDDs\/day. This sex- and age-dependent decrease in effectiveness was present for clozapine doses >0.6 DDDs\/day, olanzapine doses >1.4 DDDs\/day, and for specific doses of quetiapine (0.9 to 1.1 DDDs\/day) and risperidone (0.6 to 0.9 DDDs\/day).<\/p>\n “Starting in mid-forties, older women with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders should be regarded as a vulnerable group that deserve special attention,” the authors write.<\/p>\n Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.<\/p>\n