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DOI: 10.1055/a-2290-6386
Blood Cell Count Ratios at Baseline are Associated with Initial Clinical Response to Clozapine in Treatment-Resistant, Clozapine-Naïve, Schizophrenia-Spectrum Disorder
Funding Information Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness integrated into the State Plan of Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2013–2016 and co-financed by the ISCIII-General Evaluation Branch and the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) — PI14/00753
Abstract
Background Clozapine is the recommended treatment for managing treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS), and immunological mechanisms may be involved in its unique antipsychotic efficacy. This study investigated whether baseline immune abnormalities measured with blood cell count ratios can predict the clinical response after initiating treatment with clozapine in patients with clozapine naïve TRS.
Methods A longitudinal design was developed, involving 32 patients diagnosed with treatment-resistant, clozapine-naïve schizophrenia-spectrum disorder. Patients were evaluated at baseline before clozapine starting and 8 weeks of follow-up. Psychopathological status and immune abnormalities (blood cell count ratios: neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio [NLR], monocyte-lymphocyte ratio [MLR], platelet-lymphocyte ratio [PLR] and basophil-lymphocyte ratio [BLR]) were evaluated in each visit.
Results Baseline NLR (b=− 0.364; p=0.041) and MLR (b =− 0.400; p=0.023) predicted the change in positive symptoms over the 8-week period. Patients who exhibited a clinical response showed higher baseline NLR (2.38±0.96 vs. 1.75±0.83; p=0.040) and MLR (0.21±0.06 vs. 0.17±0.02; p=0.044) compared to non-responders. In the ROC analysis, the threshold points to distinguish between responders and non-responders were approximately 1.62 for NLR and 0.144 for MLR, yielding AUC values of 0.714 and 0.712, respectively. No statistically significant differences were observed in the blood cell count ratios from baseline to the 8-week follow-up.
Conclusion Our study emphasizes the potential clinical significance of baseline NLR and MLR levels as predictors of initial clozapine treatment response in patients with TRS. Future studies with larger sample sizes and longer follow-up periods should replicate our findings.
Keywords
treatment-resistant schizophrenia - clozapine - neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio - monocyte-lymphocyte ratioPublication History
Received: 18 December 2023
Received: 21 February 2024
Accepted after revision: 21 February 2024
Article published online:
15 April 2024
© 2024. Thieme. All rights reserved.
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