Clinical Correlates, Complications and Response Associated with Clozapine

INTRODUCTION: Schizophrenia is one of the most disabling psychiatric illness. Clozapine is an atypical antipsychotic which has been established to be more beneficial than conventional antipsychotics in patients with treatment resistant schizophrenia (20-30%) out of which 50% of such patients showed improvement. Clozapine is also the only medication approved by FDA for the prevention of suicide. Clozapine also has significant side effects including weight gain, sedation, hypersalivation and myocarditis, OCD symptoms, so that the medication must be discontinued in 1 out of 6 individuals. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To assess clinical profile, demographic characteristics, medical and psychiatric complications and response in patients receiving clozapine. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a cross sectional study of 6 months duration where in charts of all the patients receiving clozapine were reviewed for various social demographic details, clinical characteristics ,response,physical and psychiatric complications Semistructed proforma was used to collected the necessary data.Descriptive statistics were done. RESULTS: Most of the patients receiving clozapine were between the age of 30 to 40 years, had a duration of illness of more than 5 years with an indication of treatment resistant schizophrenia.Most common side effects observed were weight gain and sedation.In patients receiving clozapine for more than 2 years Metabolic complications were frequently observed.Seizures and cardiac complications were rarely seen. OUTCOME MEASURES: To understand the therapeutic effectiveness versus complications of clozapine and to make an informed evidence based treatment decision of its use in South Indian population. REFERENCES: 1. Indian research: Focus on clozapine Sandeep Grover, Alakananda Dutt, Ajit Avasthi; 2. Effectiveness of clozapine in treatment-resistant schizophrenia Janakiraman raguraman(1),K John Vijay Sagar(2),R Chandrasekaran(3.)