RESEARCH WEEKLY: Clozapine prevents hospitalization By Elizabeth Sinclair Hancq (April 12, 2023) Clozapine is the gold standard treatment for treatment-resistant schizophrenia. However, this lifesaving medication is underutilized and under prescribed by clinicians in the United States. New research published in “Psychiatric Services” provides further evidence for the benefits of this anti-psychotic medication, suggesting that clozapine treatment may prevent hospitalization by promoting community-based treatment use in individuals with schizophrenia. The study authors utilized public datasets from the Allegheny County Data Warehouse, an integrated dataset of health and other information for individuals living in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, where Pittsburgh is located. The researchers examined health care usage of 163 individuals with schizophrenia for the 180 days before and 180 days after clozapine treatment initiation. Study results There was a significant increase in community mental health service usage in individuals after clozapine initiation, according to the results. Concurrently, there was a significant decrease in the number of individuals with any inpatient hospitalizations. Extensive statistical analyses and comparisons were conducted to ensure these results were not impacted by other factors, such as race or income, suggesting that clozapine treatment was the driving force of these results. Although not statistically significant, there was also a downward trend of forensic service use in individuals with schizophrenia after clozapine treatment initiation. Future researchers with access to larger sample sizes and more forensic data should examine the relationship between clozapine treatment and forensic services, including mental health justice claims and jail utilization, the authors suggested. Implications Clozapine is a treatment for people with schizophrenia who do not respond to other forms of antipsychotic medications. Clozapine is underutilized in the United States by a factor of 10, meaning there are potentially 10 times more patients with schizophrenia that might benefit from this lifesaving medication who are not receiving it. The results from this research suggest that initiation of clozapine treatment may help to shift treatment of individuals with schizophrenia away from costly inpatient hospitalizations to community-based services. “From the standpoint of high-value care, we believe our findings support the expansion of efforts by Medicaid managed care organizations to promote clozapine utilization for optimal and efficient long-term care,” the authors wrote. “More specifically, our findings support the development of infrastructures that maintain clozapine treatment within community-based services.” References Sarpal, D. K., et al. (2023, April). Community-based service use after clozapine treatment: A mirror-image analysis of public claims data. Psychiatric Services. Elizabeth Sinclair Hancq is the director of research at Treatment Advocacy Center. View as Webpage To receive Research Weekly directly in your email inbox on a weekly basis, click here. Questions? Contact us at [email protected] Research Weekly is a summary published as a public service of Treatment Advocacy Center and does not necessarily reflect the findings or positions of the organization or its staff. Full access to research summarized may require a fee or paid subscription to the publications. Treatment Advocacy Center does not solicit or accept funds from pharmaceutical companies. Treatment Advocacy Center | 200 N Glebe Rd, Ste 801, Arlington, VA 22203 Unsubscribe [email protected] Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice Sent by [email protected] powered by Try email marketing for free today!