Gender differences in neuroleptic nonresponsive clozapine-treated schizophrenics.

Gender differences in neuroleptic-refractory chronic schizophrenic disorder patients were examined to determine whether a superior or equivalent antipsychotic response in women vs. men existed similar to that of the general schizophrenic population. Sixty-nine DSM-III schizophrenic patients (47 males and 22 females) were treated with clozapine using a standardized medication regime. The gender differences in these neuroleptic-nonresponsive chronic schizophrenic disorder patients differed from those previously observed in the general schizophrenic population in that an equivalent antipsychotic treatment response in females versus males was not found. These treatment-refractory women appear to be a severely ill subgroup of female schizophrenics with distinct onset of illness, course and treatment response characteristics.