To evaluate patient and physician satisfaction with risperidone long-acting injection (RLAI) in patients with schizophrenia enrolled in the electronic Schizophrenia Treatment Adherence Registry (e-STAR) in Belgium.

e-STAR is an ongoing, international, prospective, observational study of patients with schizophrenia who start RLAI during their routine clinical management. Treatment satisfaction was assessed by the patient and physician on a 5-point scale from ‘very good’ to ‘very bad’.

135 patients with mean age 40.9±14 years and duration of illness 9.5±9.2 years initiated treatment with RLAI, followed-up for at least 18 months were included in this analysis. At baseline, only 29.2% of patients expressed “good” or “very good” satisfaction while 21.1% of them expressed “bad” or “very bad” with their previous treatment. Similarly at baseline, 38.2% of physicians reported “good” or “very good” level of satisfaction and 14.6% rated their satisfaction as “bad” or “very bad” at that time. After initiation of RLAI, both patient and physician satisfaction with treatment improved dramatically. At 18 months, 76.5% of patients were satisfied (‘good’ or ‘very good’) with RLAI treatment and only 2.4% felt ‘bad’ and none reported ‘very bad’. Physicians also expressed satisfaction with RLAI with 82.1% of them rated it as ‘good’ or ‘very good’. Only one physician reported satisfaction below ‘moderate’.

The low levels of patient and physician satisfaction with treatment prior to RLAI are likely to be a key decision driver to change therapy. After starting treatment with RLAI, both patient and physician satisfaction with the treatment substantially improved.