Unlike clozapine, and despite its structural similarities, olanzapine is not usually associated with haematological suppression. Nonetheless this case report highlights an incident of olanzapine-induced thrombocytopenia and neutropenia in a first-contact patient. We report on a 50-year-old male who presented with 7 years of delusions and hallucinations. A diagnosis of schizophrenia was made in the absence of any suggestive features of mood disorders, substance abuse or organicity, and olanzapine as second-line treatment. Within a week of starting treatment he developed biochemical neutropenia and thrombocytopenia without any clinical symptoms that resolved after cessation of the offending drug. An organic workup for infective, inflammatory, and neoplastic causes was unremarkable. Comparison with other case reports and 3 postulated mechanisms are discussed. Despite its comparative rarity, the addition of this case report to a growing corpus suggests that clinicians should maintain heightened surveillance of patients prescribed olanzapine, to identify any untoward iatrogenic haematological abnormalities or immunosuppression.
This prospective 6-week study examined the differences in dosage and steady state plasma concentrations of sertraline in Chinese versus Caucasian depressed patients. Two groups of Chinese patients from different geographical sites and a group of Caucasian patients were evaluated with clinical measures during an initial dose of 50 mg/day, with subsequent doses adjusted clinically. The results of 17 Australian Chinese (ACHI), 13 Malaysian Chinese (MCHI) and 15 Australian Caucasians (AC) were analysed. Despite controlling for weight, the AC subjects received a significantly higher dose than both the ACHI (P = 0.002) and the MCHI groups (P = 0.012). However, the mean sertraline concentration to dose ratios at weeks 1 and 6 were not significantly different between the three groups. Sertraline was effective and well tolerated in both ethnic groups with few adverse events. Although there was a lack of difference between groups in the pharmacokinetic results, Chinese depressed patients appeared to require lower dosages with consequently lower plasma concentrations of sertraline compared to Caucasian patients to achieve clinical efficacy. Further studies of the dosages, kinetics and adverse effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors linked with genotyping are necessary.