A comparative study of medication adherence in schizophrenia patients receiving clozapine and other antipsychotics

There is a lack of data on medication adherence among patients receiving clozapine from Asian countries. Few studies across the globe have longitudinally assessed medication adherence among clozapine patients.

This study aimed to longitudinally evaluate medication adherence and its correlates in schizophrenia patients receiving clozapine and compare the same with patients receiving other oral second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs).

100 patients receiving clozapine and 100 patients with another SGA were evaluated at two-time points six months apart for medication adherence using the Medication Adherence Questionnaire (MAQ) and Compliance Rating Scale (CRS).

At the baseline assessment a higher percentage of patients in the clozapine group were fully adherent to their medication as per the MAQ. On CRS, a significantly higher proportion of patients on clozapine reported passive acceptance of medication and resultantly had better medication adherence. At the follow-up assessment, compared to patients on clozapine, a higher proportion of patients on other SGAs reported forgetting to take medication, being careless of taking medication, and stopping medication when they felt better. Overall, the medication adherence of patients on clozapine was higher than that for patients on other SGAs as assessed on MAQ and CRS.

To conclude, the present study suggests that about one-third of patients using clozapine and other SGAs are poorly adherent to their medications, and medication adherence among patients receiving clozapine is better than those receiving other SGAs.