In this recently published article, scientists in Toronto, Canada conducted a study "To describe the Worldwide-Schizophrenia Outpatient Health Outcomes (W-SOHO) patient population at study entry, focusing on illness burden and prescribing practices across regions. The SOHO study was a 3-year, prospective, observational study designed to assess costs and outcomes associated with antipsychotic use in outpatients initiating or changing antipsychotic (with an emphasis on olanzapine compared with other antipsychotics)."

"SOHO was conducted in 10 European countries and 27 other countries as Intercontinental SOHO (IC-SOHO). Data from all countries have been pooled to produce the W-SOHO dataset. Clinical Global Impression-Schizophrenia (CGI-SCH) severity scores, psychotropic medication use, adverse events, social interaction, housing and employment status, self-perceived health state (EuroQoL EQ-5D scale and Visual Analogue Scale, EQ-VAS), and reasons for initiation/change of antipsychotic. The W-SOHO database comprises 17,384 patients from six regions; East Asia (n = 1223), Central and Eastern Europe (n = 2175), Northern Europe (n = 4291), Southern Europe (n = 5788), Latin America (n = 2566), North Africa and the Middle East (n = 1341). Overall, patients were 38 +/- 13 years old (mean +/- SD), moderately ill (mean CGI-SCH overall score of 4.4 +/- 1.0) with a median duration of illness of 7 years (interquartile range 1-16 years); 43% were female, 10% were receiving antipsychotic medication for the first time. Adverse events were prevalent across all regions; on average, 50% (range 41-59%) of patients taking antipsychotics exhibited extrapyramidal symptoms at baseline, and 62% (34-67%) of patients reported sexual dysfunction in the previous month. On average, only 19% (16-23%) of patients were in paid employment and as many as 69% were living in dependent housing. Despite inherent diversity in these patients and the health care systems supporting them, there are striking cross-regional similarities in baseline characteristics for most measures," wrote J. Karagianis and colleagues (see also Schizophrenia).

The researchers concluded: "Not all countries are represented; regional comparisons may not be valid outside of the countries studied."

Karagianis and colleagues published their study in International Journal of Clinical Practice (Worldwide-Schizophrenia Outpatient Health Outcomes (W-SOHO): baseline characteristics of pan-regional observational data from more than 17,000 patients*. International Journal of Clinical Practice, 2009;63(11):1578-1588).

For additional information, contact J. Karagianis, Eli Lilly Canada Inc., Clinic Research, 3650 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, ON M1N 2E8, Canada.

The publisher's contact information for the International Journal of Clinical Practice is: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc., Commerce Place, 350 Main St., Malden 02148, MA, USA.