The Psychiatry and Mental Health research group at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP), together with the ETEP (Study and Treatment of Psychotic Episodes) group at Hospital del Mar, has published a study in the Spanish Journal of Psychiatry and Mental Health that analyzes the use of clozapine in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia in the first two years after the first psychotic episode (FEP). The study analyzes the prescription patterns of clozapine in patients diagnosed with an FEP. The main objective was to determine the proportion of patients receiving clozapine, the initial predictors of its use, the time until its initiation, the medications taken simultaneously, and the associated adverse effects.
The main findings of this research are as follows: "A pproximately 20-30% of patients with schizophrenia do not respond to conventional antipsychotic treatments and are considered treatment-resistant. In these cases, clozapine is the treatment of choice, but its use in real clinical practice is often delayed or insufficient, " explains Dr Alba Toll, head of the Psychiatry and Mental Health Research Group at IGTP and one of the principal authors of the study. One of the reasons for the underuse of clozapine is the reluctance of both clinicians and patients to start treatment due to its potential side effects, such as sedation and metabolic alterations.
" Dr. Alba Toll, Head of the Psychiatry and Mental Health Research Group, Germans Trias i Pujol Re.