Patients’ Experiences of Clozapine for Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia: A Systematic Review

Abstract Background Clozapine is the most effective antipsychotic for patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS), however, it remains widely under-utilized in clinical practice. To date, relatively little attention has been given to patients’ experience of clozapine. By synthesizing existing literature, we sought determine experiences TRS treated Methods A systematic review was conducted on Embase, Medline, PsychInfo, and PubMed databases studies from 1956 2021. English language those based adult prescribed clozapine were included. Results Thirteen included a total 1487 narrative synthesis performed. Overall, reported positive clozapine, generally high levels satisfaction, alongside symptom improvement preference over previous medications. Negative less common, but when mentioned, focused blood tests common side effects, including hypersalivation weight gain. Conclusions This first exploring subjective TRS. Findings suggest that have favorable being However, conclusions are limited by risk bias, particularly survivorship bias. High-quality longitudinal indicated future.