Prescription patterns of quetiapine for multiple drug abuse, depression, and psychosis: A retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Quetiapine is an atypical antipsychotic prescribed for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, multiple drug abuse (MDA), generalized anxiety disorder, severe depression, dementia, and mood disorders. Prescription of quetiapine varies according to use, with side effects increasingly reported with higher doses. Many previous case reports highlighted the misuse of the drug. Here we studied the prescribing patterns of quetiapine in multiple drug abuse (MDA), depression, and psychosis patients in the Madinah region in Saudi Arabia. METHODS: This is a retrospective single-center study carried out in the main referral hospital for mental health in Madinah, Saudi Arabia for the period December 2020 till December 2021. RESULTS: A total of 158 patients were included in this study. The mean age of the patients was 30.5 ± 10.1 years. Male presented for 89.9 % of the patients. In terms of quetiapine indications, 46.2 % of patients used it for MDA, 29.7 % for psychosis, and 24.1 for depression. For all patients, quetiapine was used with a mean daily dose of 285.2 ± 222 mg and for a mean duration of 13.9 ± 15.4 weeks. Quetiapine was prescribed with a mean of 2.1 ± 2.2 prescriptions. Comparison between different indications shows that quetiapine was more frequently prescribed for MDA (p < 0.001). The MDA patients were significantly younger than in other groups (p = 0.001). All patients who received quetiapine for MDA were males. However, MDA patients received a smaller dose of quetiapine than other indications (p < 0.001). There were no significant differences between groups in terms of the number of prescriptions, duration, and whether the patient was on other medications or not. These results have been confirmed by regression analysis, where male and younger ages represented a significant contributing factor to MDA compared to psychosis, 95 % CI: 8 x10(7) (8 x10(7) − 8 x10(7)) and 0.943 (0.900–––0.987), respectively. CONCLUSION: Quetiapine was prescribed more frequently in MDA patients and younger individuals. Low dose was predominant in those patients, indicating a probability of drug abuse.