Long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics improve medication adherence in patients with schizophrenia and extend the duration of therapeutic drug levels but with administration of an increased dose. Real-world mortality data in patients prescribed LAIs are lacking. We conducted a population-based cohort study to estimate and compare the incidence rates of all-cause death and completed suicide in patients with schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder exposed to LAIs and oral antipsychotics.

Patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder between January 1, 2015 and November 30, 2019 were enrolled from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database and linked to Death Registry records. Eligible patients were new antipsychotic users. Relative risks of death for each antipsychotic compared with oral paliperidone were evaluated using a Cox proportional hazard model adjusted for age, sex, Charlson Comorbidity Index, index year, bipolar or major depressive or other mood disorders, mental disorders due to drug use, and baseline hospitalization frequency.

There were 228,791.08 person-years of follow-up (mean 2.48 years). The incidence rates of all-cause death in users of LAI paliperidone administered monthly (PP1M) and every 3 months (PP3M) were 7.40/1,000 person-years (95% confidence interval 5.94–9.11) and 9.93 (5.88–15.79), respectively. The incidences of completed suicide were 2.03/1,000 person-years (1.32–2.99) and 3.10 (1.14–6.88), respectively. No significant associations were observed between PP1M and PP3M compared to oral paliperidone in incidences of all-cause death or for completed suicide.

No increased risk of all-cause death or completed suicide was observed in users of antipsychotic LAIs, including PP1M and PP3M.