Loading...
Although clozapine is generally recognized as the most effective antipsychotic for patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia, requirements for frequent blood tests often delay and reduce its acceptance by patients and use by clinicians. To assess clozapine's effectiveness and safety in routine practice, investigators retrospectively studied national Medicaid data on 3123 patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia who initiated clozapine between 2001 and 2009 and 3123 carefully matched patients who initiated a different antipsychotic regimen (mean age, 39; male, 52%).
Patients had at least one hospitalization, received at least two different antipsychotics in the prior year (excluding long-acting injectable medications), and were a…