Depicting and subgrouping trajectories of dose tapering
MR
REMISSION
To illustrate individual trajectories of dose tapering in a consistent manner, the doses at each timepoint of individual patient were first transformed as the proportions of their baseline doses; that is, the baseline level was designated as “1”, uniformly across all patients, regardless of which antipsychotics and doses were received at the beginning of this trial. Second, the current dose/baseline dose was calculated to make up plots comprising all fractions of doses at each timepoint of the individual patients, in order to portray a constellation of trajectories for all patients using a standardized visual presentation. Then, the patterns of patients could be visually identified straightforwardly based on their trajectories during dose tapering, as follows:1) Examples of subjects with each pattern are illustrated in Patterns of dose tapering trajectories. Sequential reducers (SR), those who were able to taper doses at each designated timepoint successfully for four steps in 2 years; Modest reducer (MR), those who took a cautious pace in tapering, thus they only reduced 1 to 3 steps, with no re-escalation to previous step, during 2 years; Alert reducer (AR), those who have had reduced at least two steps yet re-escalated dose back to the level between their baseline dose and the lowest dose they have reached during the course of dose tapering; Baseline returner (BR), those who have tapered at least 1 step but returned to baseline dose for concern about risks of relapse and were able to stay in remission throughout the course; Failed reducer (FR), those who had a relapse during dose tapering and were in need of a dose higher than their baseline level; Early exit (EE), those who left the trial after tapering at least 1 step without relapse before the end of 2-year follow-up. AR, BR, and MR were collapsed as conservative reducers (CR) in further analyses.