Fewer Hospitalizations, Emergency Visits With Pimavanserin for Parkinson Disease Psychosis

Pimavanserin monotherapy in patients with Parkinson disease psychosis was associated with nearly 12% lower all-cause hospitalization rates and 7% lower all-cause emergency department visit rates, with similar patterns for psychiatric-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits, compared with other atypical antipsychotics. Researchers published their findings in the Journal of Medical Economics.

“While these results are not intended to establish a causal relationship, they demonstrate the potential real-world association between health care resource utilization patterns and pimavanserin or other-atypical antipsychotic use among patients with Parkinson’s disease psychosis,” researchers wrote.

The retrospective cohort study analyzed Medicare claims for 842 patients treated with pimavanserin monotherapy for Parkinson disease psychosis who were matched for more than 2 dozen variables with 842 patients treated with one of four other atypical antipsychotics: quetiapine, risperidone, olanzapine, or aripiprazole.

According to the study, rates of all-cause hospitalization were 37.8% among patients on pimavanserin compared with 49.8% for those on other atypical antipsychotics. Rates were 34% with pimavanserin and 46.2% with other antipsychotics for short-term hospital stays, and 20.2% with pimavanserin and 31.8% with other antipsychotics for skilled nursing facility stays.

Pimavanserin was also associated with the following rates: 9.6% for psychiatric hospitalizations, 61.6% for all-cause emergency department visits, and 5.2% for psychiatric emergency department visits. Meanwhile, rates for other antipsychotics were 14.6% for psychiatric hospitalizations, 69.4% for all-cause emergency department visits, and 10.2% for psychiatric emergency department visits, researchers reported.

Reference:
Rajagopalan K, Rashid N, Kumar S, Doshi D. Health care resource utilization patterns among patients with Parkinson’s disease psychosis: analysis of Medicare beneficiaries treated with Pimavanserin or other-atypical antipsychotics. J Med Econ. Published online November 28, 2022. doi:10.1080/13696998.2022.2152600