Routine Plasma Level Determination to Compare Actual vs Expected Plasma Levels at Psychiatric Inpatient Admission

February 22, 2008 updated by: Medical University Innsbruck

Routine Plasma Level Determination to Compare Actual vs Expected Plasma Levels at Psychiatric Inpatient Admission for Determination of Compliance and/or Speed of Drug Metabolism

Compliance with treatment is notoriously low in psychiatric patients. Traditional methods of monitoring compliance, however, may underreport nonadherence to treatment. In this study, actual plasma levels at admission - which are ROUTINELY taken at the Dept Psychiatry of the Paracelsus Medical University - were compared to plasma levels that can be expected from the prescribed preadmission dosing regimen. This was done to give treating psychiatrists a quantitatively precise idea of how frequently they can expect their patients to have plasma levels that are below the level of medication as intended by the prescribing physician.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Context Noncompliance or incomplete compliance with psychopharmacological medication by psychiatric patients is a frequent risk and may be underreported by classical methods (e.g., pill counts or coloring additives).

Objective To determined the prevalence of incomplete compliance and/or faster-than average elimination of the medication by comparing actual plasma levels with those expected from the prescribed dosage under naturalistic routine conditions.

Design Forty-five day prospective routine survey.

Setting University acute inpatient clinic.

Participants All consecutive admissions for acute inpatient treatment from June 1, 2005 to July 15, 2005 who had been treated with antidepressants and/or antipsychotics.

Intervention Determination of plasma levels of all psychiatric medications and their comparison to the expected plasma levels, based on known preadmission dosing regimen and average pharmacokinetic data.

Main outcome measures The percentage of admissions with actual plasma level that were (a) more than 2-fold lower or (b) more than 2-fold higher than the expected plasma level or (c) differing only 0.5- to 2-fold from the expected plasma level.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

161

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

      • Salzburg, Austria, A-5020
        • Department of Psychiatry I, Paracelsus Medical University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • ADULT
  • OLDER_ADULT
  • CHILD

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

patients consecutively admitted for routine psychiatric inpatient treatment

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • eligible for psychiatric inpatient treatment

Exclusion Criteria:

  • not eligible for psychiatric inpatient treatment

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Intervention / Treatment
A
all patients consecutively admitted to psychiatric inpatient treatment (naturalistic sample from routine psychiatric hospital intake)
Routine psychiatric inpatient treatment. This is not an interventional study.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
The percentage of admissions with actual plasma level that were (a) more than 2-fold lower or (b) more than 2-fold higher than the expected plasma level or (c) differing only 0.5- to 2-fold from the expected plasma level.
Time Frame: at admission to psychiatric inpatient treatment
at admission to psychiatric inpatient treatment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
There is NO secondary outcome measure.
Time Frame: at admission
at admission

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Gerald Zernig, MD, Medical University Innsbruck

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

June 1, 2005

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

July 1, 2005

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

December 1, 2007

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 22, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 22, 2008

First Posted (ESTIMATE)

March 3, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ESTIMATE)

March 3, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 22, 2008

Last Verified

February 1, 2008

More Information

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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