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. 2013 Dec 16;8(12):e83539.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083539. eCollection 2013.

Clozapine prescribing in a Canadian outpatient population

Silvia Alessi-Severini  1 , Josee-Anne Le Dorze  1 , David Nguyen  1 , Patricia Honcharik  2 , Michael Eleff  3
Affiliations

Clozapine prescribing in a Canadian outpatient population

Silvia Alessi-Severini et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Objective: Description of demographics of an outpatient population of clozapine users.

Methods: Retrospective chart review study of an urban population diagnosed with schizophrenia. Assessment of therapeutic histories in relation to clinical practice guidelines.

Results: Seventy-seven of the 467 patients were on clozapine therapy. Average patients' age was 39.4 ± 11.8 years) and 68% were males. The majority of patients (68%) had tried 3 or more antipsychotics before switching to clozapine, 21% had tried two and 11% had tried one. Median length of therapy prior to clozapine initiation was 8.9 years in males and 7.7 years in females.

Conclusion: Until 2010, the use of clozapine was often delayed and more than 2 antipsychotic medications were tried for relatively long periods of time before patients were switched to this effective agent.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: Silvia Alessi-Severini is an academic editor for PLOS ONE. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

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