Geographical and temporal variations in clozapine prescription for schizophrenia

Abstract Despite its unsurpassed efficacy in treatment-resistant schizophrenia, clozapine remains underutilized. Trends in the prescription of clozapine in patients with ICD-10 F20.x schizophrenia were assessed using data from Danish national registers. Three substudies were carried out: (i) an assessment of differences in national prescription patterns between 1996 and 2007 using a cross-sectional design; (ii) a comparison of time from first schizophrenia diagnosis to first prescription of clozapine in a five-year cohort study, using the Cox regression model, of two patient groups who were first diagnosed in 1996 and in 2003; (iii) an assessment of differences in the general psychiatric hospitals' use of clozapine in 2009. The results are as follows: (i) The percentage of schizophrenia patients receiving clozapine rose from 9.0% in 1996 to 10.1% in 2007 ( p