Clozapine Treatment Is Associated With Higher Prescription Rate of Antipsychotic Monotherapy and Lower Prescription Rate of Other Concomitant Psychotropics: A Real-World Nationwide Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Although clozapine is effective for treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS), the rate of clozapine prescription is still low. Whereas antipsychotic monotherapy is recommended in clinical practice guidelines, the rate of antipsychotic polypharmacy is still high. There is little evidence on whether a clozapine prescription influences changes in the rate of monotherapy and polypharmacy, including antipsychotics and other psychotropics. We therefore hypothesized that the rate of antipsychotic monotherapy in patients with TRS who were prescribed clozapine would be higher than that in patients with schizophrenia who were not prescribed clozapine.

Methods

We assessed 8306 patients with schizophrenia nationwide from 178 institutions in Japan from 2016 to 2019. We analyzed

SUBMITTER: Ochi S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9593218 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature