Outcome of clozapine therapy for elderly patients with refractory primary psychosis.

Objective: The objective was to analyze outcome of clozapine therapy in elderly patients with treatment refractory primary psychosis.

Design: This was an open-label clozapine trial in elderly patients. Patient psychopathology was assessed before and after clozapine therapy.

Setting: A psychiatry service at a large urban/suburban Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Patients: Inpatients and outpatients age 65 years or older with primary psychotic disorders established to be resistant to conventional antipsychotic therapy (Kane et al., 1988). Ten patients met study inclusion criteria out of a total of 134 patients receiving clozapine at the Cleveland VAMC (7.5%). Mean age of the group was 70.6 years.

Measures: Patients were rated with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS; Overall and Gorham, 1962). Additional data on patient demographics, comorbid non-psychiatric diagnoses and concurrent psychotropic medication were collected via chart review.

Results: Mean clozapine dosage was 204 mg/day for a mean duration of 430 days. 7/10 patients had some degree of clinical improvement and 3/10 patients had significant improvement documented by BPRS change of 20% or greater. Patients had a mean of 1.4 comorbid physical illnesses, which were not worsened by clozapine therapy. 4/10 patients discontinued clozapine therapy due to adverse effects or inability to comply with bloodwork; however; only 2/10 were truly treatment intolerant.

Conclusions: Clozapine is a useful alternative treatment option for elderly individuals with refractory primary psychosis. As in younger patients, inability to tolerate drug-related adverse effects or weekly bloodwork may lead to drug discontinuation.