Review of the diagnoses of the treated patients with palmitate paliperidone for one year in a mental health unit, as well as some of their key sociodemographic characteristics, the length of the hospital stay and the average treatment according to clinical diagnosis.

Descriptive epidemiological study including patients admitted to our hospital. It covers the period from January 2014 to December 2014.

For the period between January and December, a total of 315 patients were admitted in our mental health hospital unit, of which 45 were treated with paliperidone palmitate. The diagnosis were: schizophrenia (25 patients; 55.56%), schizoaffective disorder (7 patients; 15.56%), delusional disorder (5 patients; 11.11%), bipolar disorder (1 patient; 2.22%), personality disorder (2 patients; 4.44%), obsessive-compulsive disorder (1 patient; 2.22%), organic brain disorder (1 patient; 2.22%), schizophreniform disorder (1 patient; 2.22%) and mental retardation (1 patient; 2.22%). The mean age of patients was 35.7 years old. The most common marital status was unmarried state (30 patients; 66.6%). The average stay per hospital admission was 19.33 days. The most abused drugs were tobacco (31 patients; 68.8%). The mean dose of paliperidone palmitate was 137.5 mg. Schizophrenic patients need higher doses of treatment.

A significant improvement in functionality was observed in our patients. What's proven efficacy and good tolerability and adherence, so we consider paliperidone palmitate as a drug of first choice in the treatment of schizophrenia.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.