Tardive Dyskinesia and Related Neurologic Disorders

Assessment of Tardive Dyskinesia in Psychiatric Outpatients Using a Standardized Rating Scale

“…However, the higher female prevalence was not found by Asnis et al (1977), nor Smith et al (1979a). The higher prevalence reported may have been due to a function of age rather than sex, since elderly women were more represented in the samples (Crane, 1978). In the present study, in which males and females were more uniformly represented in all age groups, no significant differences in prevalence of tardive dyskinesia were found between males and females at any level of severity (Figure 1).…”

“…In most instances, several years of treatment are necessary before a well-defined picture of tardive dyskinesia is established (Crane, 1978). In the present study there was a trend indicating some relationship between AIMS scores and duration of treatment with neuroleptics, although this correlation was low (rxy = 0.25).…”

“…Asnis et al (1977) found a prevalence of 43% and Smith et al (1979a) reported 22% in similar age groups. The typical dyskinetic movements associated with tardive dyskinesia may occur in practically any age group, but its prevalence increases sharply in persons aged over 50 years (Crane, 1978). The increased prevalence of tardive dyskinesia in elderly patients treated with neuroleptics could be an artefact due to the addition of spontaneous dyskinetic movements normally found in this age bracket (Bourgeois et al, 1980;Delwaide and Desseilles, 1977).…”

“…In the study reported here, even though there was a higher prevalence of tardive dyskinesia in patients receiving neuroleptics for more than 5 years (59%), there were 6 patients who were free of dyskinetic movements even after 10 years of medication. This could be due to the variety of neuroleptics used, the route of administration and differences in dosages or accumulation of metabolites, but so far there is little evidence to suggest that neuroleptics differ in their ability to induce tardive dyskinesia (Crane, 1978). It seems therefore that duration of neuroleptic treatment alone cannot account for the occurrence of tardive dyskinesia in these outpatients.…”

“…The occurrence of tardive dyskinesia is an important limiting factor in the use of antipsychotic drugs (Crane, 1978). Tardive dyskinesia is a syndrome characterised by involuntary hyperkinetic movements, varying in localisation and appearance, occurring in the orofacial region, trunk and extremities (Marsden et ul., 1975).…”