Examination of sociodemographic variables, clinical characteristics and laboratory findings of patients with shizophrenia using closapine applying to Akdeniz University Hospital Psychiatry Polyclinic

Aim : Clozapine is the gold standard treatment modality in treatment-resistant schizophrenia as it reduces symptoms and provides clinical improvement. It was aimed to examine sociodemographic variables, clinical and laboratory characteristics of patients using clozapine. Method : The study included 50 patients who applied to the Akdeniz University Hospital Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic, were using Clozapine, and were diagnosed with schizophrenia according to the DSM-V diagnostic criteria. Patients were evaluated with the patient data record form and the positive-negative syndrome scale (PANSS). Results : In our study, it was determined that 88% of schizophrenia patients using clozapine did not work in any job. In addition, it was determined that the reason for starting clozapine in 88% of the cases was not benefiting from other antipsychotic drugs. In our study, one of the serious side effects related to clozapine use, agranulocytosis was not encountered, and the most common side effects were sedation, hypersalivation and increased appetite, respectively. It was determined that the patients were started on clozapine treatment in the seventh year of the disease on average, clozapine was continued for an average of 7 years, and the average dose of clozapine they used was 400 mg. A positive and significant correlation was found between the age of the cases and the duration of clozapine use. It was learned that 72% of the cases had a family history of psychiatric illness, and schizophrenia was the most common with 22% in the first-degree relatives of these patients. Positive and negative symptoms subscale scores were found to be higher in patients aged < 40 years than in patients aged ≥ 40 years, whereas General psychopathology scores were higher in patients aged ≥ 40 years. It was observed that 58% of the cases used antipsychotic drugs in addition to clozapine, and these antipsychotics were aripiprazole (22%) and amylsulpiride (12%). It has been reported that there is a problem with close friends, family, relatives or neighbors at a rate of 46% as a pre-disease stressor factor. In addition, it was determined that exposure to peer bullying at school was 34%, exposure to physical abuse was 36% and exposure to sexual harassment was 16%. Conclusion : In this study, it is thought that examining the sociodemographic data, clinical severity of the disease, side effects and laboratory values of schizophrenia patients using clozapine will contribute to the literature.. Keywords: resistant Schizophrenia, Clozapine, side effect