Introduction: Schizophrenia is one of the most serious and frightening of all mental illnesses. Atypical antipsychotics are first line drugs for schizophrenia. They have significant adverse drug events.
Aim: The study was conducted with an aim to evaluate the pattern of occurrence of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) in the patients with schizophrenia and to assess their causality and severity.
Materials and Methods: A prospective study was carried out in the psychiatry inpatient and outpatient department of KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital and Medical Research Centre, Belagavi, Karnataka for 3 months. All patients diagnosed
casinoluck.ca with schizophrenia and stable on atypical antipsychotics and receiving pharmacotherapy was included. Assessment of causality and severity of recorded ADRs was done using Naranjo’s scale and Hartwig Scale respectively.
Results: A total 32 ADRs were recorded from 25 patients out of 60 patients. The most common ADRs were weight gain (28.13%) and insomnia (18.75%). Majority of ADRs were Probable (53.13%)on Naranjo’s causality assessment scale and Level 4b (40.63%) on Hartwig’s severity assessment scale. The drug Aripriprazole showed maximum ADRs (34.38%).
Conclusion: ADRs are frequent occurrence in patients with schizophrenia which are probable in most cases. Incidence of ADRs can be decreased and compliance as well as quality of patient can be improved by early detection and management.