Usage of Clozapine in Clinical Practice – A Cross-sectional Study in a Tertiary Care Centre in India

Background: Clozapine is very useful antipsychotic in treatment resistant schizophrenia but its use is limited due to fear by psychiatrists of the life threatening side effects like agranulocytosis and myocarditis. Hereby we conducted this study to know the prescription pattern, doses, safety and efficacy of this drug. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study wherein patients who were on clozapine for at least a week were interviewed. Demographic details and details regarding clozapine (indication for use, starting dose, maximum dose, maintenance dose, side effects) were collected. Data was analysed using appropriate statistical tests. Results: 150 patients were enrolled in our study. Maximum had diagnosis of schizophrenia and related disorders (73.3%). Minimum dose used was 12.5 mg and maximum dose of 400mg was used in our study. Main indication to start clozapine was treatment resistance (53.7%). Main side effect reported was sedation (28.7%) followed by sialorrhea (20.7%). Conclusions: Clozapine is a well-tolerated drug with good efficacy and can be used as add-on with other drugs safely.