Clinical response to clozapine treatment of 11 chronic patients in a state psychiatric hospital.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical response to clozapine of 11 treatment-resistant patients with schizophrenia. Nine male and two female inpatients of a state psychiatric hospital, with at least a 2-year history of unresponsiveness to adequate trials of at least three antipsychotics and from chemically distinct groups, were challenged with clozapine. Clinical assessment involved baseline and repeated post-baseline ratings using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Clinical Global Impressions Scale (CGI), the Nurses Observation Scale for Inpatient Evaluation (NOSIE-30), and the Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS). Progression to lower categories of care was used as an additional outcome measure. Statistically significant reductions were achieved in global symptomatology, positive psychotic symptoms, and hostility. A statistically significant improvement occurred on the Social Interest factor; however, improvements in the remaining negative symptoms were not statistically significant. Reductions in psychopathology enabled eight patients to progress to lower categories of care with five patients moving to community care. The results indicate that clozapine was effective in treating hospital patients with a very severe form of mental illness.