OBJECTIVES: Schizophrenia is a debilitating psychiatric disorder that affects up to 1% of the population, with symptoms including delusions, hallucinations, trouble thinking, and lack of motivation. Treatment for schizophrenia is life-long and is associated with significant healthcare costs in both the inpatient and outpatient settings. The objective of the present study was to examine the inpatient hospital length of stay (LOS) and hospital charges in patients with schizophrenia.

METHODS: This retrospective study examined data from a US electronic health record database (Cerner HealthFacts®). Patients were required to have an ICD9/10 diagnosis of schizophrenia and designation of an inpatient admission. Visit-based data for medications, LOS, and hospital charges were analyzed for patients who received antipsychotics.

RESULTS: The study included 44,672 schizophrenia patients (39% female, 61% male), with a mean (SD) age of 48.8 (16.2) years who received antipsychotics. The median (25^th-75^th percentiles) hospital LOS was 138.4 (71.6-263.3) hours for patients who received antipsychotics. The median hospital charge was $19,379 ($10,205 - $43,798). The top five generic drugs received by these patients were haloperidol (42%), risperidone (32%), olanzapine (27%), quetiapine (26%) and aripiprazole (12%).

CONCLUSIONS: This analysis examined the LOS and total charges for schizophrenia patients who received antipsychotics and provides initial insights into potentially relevant economic trends in the schizophrenia patient population.