Limited research has been devoted to the subjective impact of switching antipsychotic maintenance treatment (AMT) from oral to LAI formulation in schizophrenia.

To compare LAI AMT with oral AMT in terms of subjective experience of treatment, taking into account the effects on psychopathology.

Twenty outpatients (7 males, mean age 40.55±11.00 years) with remitted schizophrenia treated with either olanzapine or paliperidone and switching from oral to LAI AMT were recruited before the switch (LAI-AMT group). A group of 20 remitted schizophrenic subjects with oral AMT and matched for the main socio-demographic, clinical and treatment variables made up the controls (oral-AMT group). All participants were assessed by means of the PANSS and of the SWN-K at baseline (T0) and after 6 months (T1).

Between T0 and T1, general psychopathology of the PANSS and all but one of the SWN-K dimensions (except for “social integration”), showed significantly higher percent improvements in the LAI-AMT group compared to the oral-AMT group. After 6 months (T1), the LAI-AMT group showed significantly lower PANSS total and general psychopathology scores, as well as higher mean score of perceived “mental functioning” compared to the oral-AMT group. Item analysis of the general PANSS at T1 showed significant differences between the two groups in anxiety, tension, depression, guilt feelings, poor attention, and active social avoidance.

Our data on switching from oral to LAI AMT in remitted schizophrenia suggest a better efficacy of the latter in terms of improvement of general psychopathology and subjective experience of treatment.