O-008 - CLOZAPINE TREATMENT AND ACUTE RELAPSE'S PREVENTION IN DUAL DIAGNOSIS PATIENTS

Abstract

Objectives: to analyze prescription pattern of clozapine in dual diagnosis (DD) inpatients' and to find out if there was any association with acute relapses either from psychiatric symptoms or from substance use disorder. Material and Methods: a retrospective study was conducted with all patients admitted at Lisbon's Psychiatric Hospital Center for psychiatric inpatient treatment during a 4 months' period. Patients with a dual diagnosis at discharge were selected and their clinical files were screened to assess sociodemographic and clinical information. Results and conclusions: from a total of 536 inpatients, 17,5% had a dual diagnosis at discharge. Most frequent substance of abuse was alcohol, followed by cannabinoids, nicotine, cocaine, and opiates. Most frequent psychiatric diagnosis associated with substance use disorder was schizophrenia (50%), depressive disorder (17%) and bipolar disorder (10,6%). Clozapine was prescribed to 22,3% patients and a statistically significant association was found between clozapine prescription and prevention of acute relapses of psychiatric symptoms in DD patients. Although there was no significant association between prescription of clozapine versus other antipsychotic drugs in preventing relapses of substance use, there was found a larger than expected number of patients in clozapine that didn't have a relapse of substance use.