Socio demographic predictors of Clozapine response in refractory schizophrenia service users - part of a larger study intended for publication

A significant proportion of individuals with schizophrenia do not respond adequately to antipsychotic medication. The research literature estimates that 20%–45% of people with schizophrenia, over two years’ duration, are only moderately responsive to antipsychotic medication and 5%–10% of service users do not seem to respond at all. These individuals are usually treated with clozapine, which is the only antipsychotic licensed, and demonstrating some consistent benefit, for treatment-resistant service users. It has been proposed that these “treatment resistant” individuals may belong to a distinct etiopathological subgroup. There is a lack of research identifying socio-demographic characteristics. The proposed study will attempt to systematically examine possible characteristics that distinguish service users with treatment-resistant schizophrenia from non-resistant service users.