Evidence map›Paper›PMID 21507225›Full record

ArticleBMC psychiatry2011

The effect of ethnicity on prescribing practice and treatment outcome in inpatients suffering from schizophrenia in Greece.

Athanassios Douzenis, Athanassios Apostolopoulos, Dionisios Seretis, Emmanouil N Rizos, Christos Christodoulou, Lefteris Lykouras

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMC psychiatry, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.2field-weighted citation impact, top 43% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Athanassios DouzenisSecond Psychiatry Department, Athens University Medical School, Attikon General Hospital, 1 Rimini St, Athens 12462, Greece. thandouz@med.uoa.gr
Athanassios Apostolopoulos
Dionisios Seretis
Emmanouil N Rizos
Christos Christodoulou
Lefteris Lykouras
University General Hospital Attikon · GR

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundNo studies have been conducted in Greece with the aim of investigating the influence of ethnicity on the prescribing and treatment outcome of voluntarily admitted inpatients. Most studies conducted in the UK and the US, both on inpatients and outpatients, focus on the dosage of antipsychotics for schizophrenic patients and many suffer from significant methodological limitations. Using a simple design, we aimed to assess negative ethnic bias in psychotropic medication prescribing by comparing discrepancies in use between native and non-native psychiatric inpatients. We also aimed to compare differences in treatment outcome between the two groups.

methodsIn this retrospective study, the prescribing of medication was compared between 90 Greek and 63 non-Greek inpatients which were consecutively admitted into the emergency department of a hospital covering Athens, the capital of Greece. Participants suferred from schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders. Overall, groups were compared with regard to 12 outcomes, six related to prescribing and six related to treatment outcome as assesed by standardised psychometric tools.

resultsNo difference between the two ethnic groups was found in terms of improvement in treatment as measured by GAF and BPRS-E. Polypharmacy, use of first generation antipsychotics, second generation antipsychotics and use of mood stabilizers were not found to be associated with ethnicity. However, non-Greeks were less likely to receive SSRIs-SNRIs and more likely to receive benzodiazepines.

conclusionsOur study found limited evidence for ethnic bias. The stronger indication for racial bias was found in benzodiazepine prescribing. We discuss alternative explanations and give arguments calling for future research that will focus on disorders other than schizophrenia and studying non-inpatient populations.

Indexed as

AdultAntipsychotic AgentsEthnicityFemaleGreeceHumansMaleMiddle AgedPractice Patterns, Physicians'Psychotic DisordersSchizophreniaTreatment OutcomeAntipsychotic Agents

Identifiers

PMID21507225
PMCPMC3111345
OpenAlexW2119255112

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.