EARLY RESPONSE TO CLOZAPINE IN SCHIZOPHRENIA

Forty schizophrenic patients were treated with clozapine for 5 weeks. Patients were then classified as treatment responders or nonresponders according to a priori established criteria. After only 1 week of trea tment, the responders showed a significant decrease on the Brief Psych iatric Rating Scale (BPRS) total score and the psychosis and tension s ubscale scores. Higher BPRS scores at baseline and larger improvements in BPRS scores after the first week predicted a more favorable outcom e in this trial and yielded good classification accuracy,